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Here's How Much a $1000 Investment in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Made 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Ligand Pharmaceuticals ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to LGND for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Ligand Pharmaceuticals' main business drivers.

San Diego, CA-based Ligand is a biotechnology company whose business model is based on developing or acquiring royalty revenue generating assets. The company is focused on the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets.
 
Ligand’s Captisol formulation technology has allowed it to enter into several licensing deals and generate royalties. Captisol is a well-validated chemically modified cyclodextrin that is designed to improve safety and solubility, stability, and bioavailability or lessen the volatility, irritation, smell or taste of drugs. The Captisol drug formulation platform technology was added to Ligand’s technology portfolio following its 2011 merger with CyDex.
 
In January 2016, Ligand acquired OMT, Inc., (Open Monoclonal Technology) for about $178 million. Other technology platforms at Ligand include antigen discovery platform and protein expression platform. All these technologies including Captisol have created a strong platform for Ligand to seek new licenses and partnerships. Ligand has partnership agreements with leading healthcare companies like Novartis, Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Celgene, Gilead and Lilly among others. The company continues to buy smaller companies to increase its technology platforms.
 
In November 2022, the company completed the separation of its OmniAb business, into a separate public company named OmniAb. The spun-off OmniAb was listed on the Nasdaq Global Markets under the ticker symbol OABI w.e.f. Nov 2, 2022. Following the completion of spin-off, Ligand’s shareholders own 85% of this new company.
 
In 2022, Ligand recognized total revenues of $196.2 million, down 18.76% year over year. The company derived around 53% of revenues from Captisol sales. Royalties contributed about 37% to total revenues while Contract revenues contributed almost 10% in 2022.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Ligand Pharmaceuticals, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in April 2013 would be worth $3,123.36, or a gain of 212.34%, as of April 19, 2023, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 169.51% and the price of gold increased 37.48% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for LGND. Ligand’s Captisol technology has resulted in partnerships with several leading drug companies, providing it with funds through milestone and royalty payments. The technology has been driving its revenues for the past few years. Ligand is expanding its technology platforms beyond Captisol through acquisitions. In November 2022, Ligand successfully separated its OmniAb business into a separate entity to accelerate its core business growth. The company has also acquired several other platforms in the past two years. However, Ligand is highly dependent on its partners for revenues. The company has been experiencing a decline in its Captisol sales for Veklury, Gilead’s COVID-19 antiviral, due to reduced demand for pandemic-related treatment. Shares have outperformed the industry year to date. Earnings estimates have improved ahead of Q1 results.
Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 7.07%, and there have been 2 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2023 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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