Regeneron stock rallies after profit and revenue beat expectations by wide margins

Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
REGN,
+4.25%
rallied 1.9% toward a two-month high in premarket trading Friday, after the biotechnology company reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue that fell, as sales of its COVID-19 treatment dropped, but beat expectations by wide margins. Net income fell to $1.20 billion, or $10.50 a share, from $2.23 billion, or $19.69 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share fell to $12.56 from $23.42 but was well above the FactSet consensus of $10.17. Revenue dropped 31.1% to $3.41 billion but beat the FactSet consensus of $3.13 billion. The company did not record any revenue from its COVID-19 U.S. treatment REGEN-COV in the quarter, after recording $1.09 billion a year ago, as the company completed its final deliveries under government agreements on Dec. 31, 2021. Excluding REGEN-COV and the COVID-19 treatment Ronapreve in Europe, sales would have increased 13.7% to $3.02 billion. The stock has gained 1.7% over the past three months through Thursday, while the iShares Biotechnology exchange-traded fund
IBB,
-0.42%
has advanced 7.2% and the S&P 500
SPX,
-1.04%
has rallied 12.4%.