Image Source: Corcept Therapeutics
What: Shares of Corcept Therapeutics (CORT 1.77%), small-cap biopharma focused developing products for the metabolic, psychiatric, and oncologic markets, gained more than 18% in the month of March, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what: A better than expected fourth quarter earnings report got shares moving early in the month and they just continued to move higher from there.
The company recorded a net-income of $959,000 for the quarter, or $0.01 per share, which was much better than the consensus estimate of a $0.02 loss for the period.Total revenue for the quarter came in at $15 million, which was up 66% over the same period in 2014.
Looking ahead, the company is guiding for total revenue in 2016 between $76 million and $81 million, which would represent another year of fast growth from the $50.3 million that it recorded in all of 2015.
Now what: The company ended the year with more than $40 million in cash of its books and analysts are projecting the company to show a slight profit for the year, which should help ensure that the company has access to plenty of capital to continue its rollout of Korlym, its oral therapy for treating hyperglycemia associated with Cushing's syndrome.
Of particular interest to investors should be CORT 125134, its compound that is starting two Phase 2 trials as a potential treatment for Cushing’s syndrome and solid-tumor cancers.
Another interesting study is a Phase 1/2 trial using Korlym in combination with eribulin, the generic name of a drug owned by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai (ESALY), to treat triple-negative breast cancer. Since patients with triple-negative breast cancer have tumors that do not respond to traditional cancer treatments this looks like an exciting area for Corcept & Eisai to explore. Roughly 40,000 women in the US alone are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer each year and since there is not a FDA-approved treatment if Korlym proves to be effective then it could be a massive home run for the company.
The company expects to have efficacy and safety data from this trial in hand by mid year and if all goes well then it could be entering a phase 3 trial soon after.
With a good looking earnings report in the rear view moire and the company making progress on its solid pipeline its easy to understand why the market treated the company's stock so favorably in March.
