Ligand Pharma Boosts FY20 Outlook On Higher Material Sales - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (LGND) on Thursday raised its earnings and revenue guidance for the full-year 2020, due to higher material sales of Ligand's Captisol technology as a result of multiple recent orders for Captisol to be used with the investigational compound remdesivir.

Material sales for 2020 are now expected to be approximately $40 million, up from previous guidance of approximately $35 million.

For fiscal 2020, Ligand now expects earnings of $3.62 per share on total revenues of about $133 million, up from previous guidance for earnings of $3.45 per share on total revenues of about $122 million.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $3.47 per share on revenues of $125.82 million for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

"Ligand's Captisol technology has enabled several ground-breaking medicines, and we are now seeing partners increase their orders in support of clinical studies of the antiviral drug remdesivir, which is being actively assessed for the treatment of the new strain of the coronavirus, COVID-19," said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer.