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United Therapeutics Stock Down Despite Q4 Earnings & Sales Beat

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United Therapeutics’ (UTHR - Free Report) fourth-quarter 2024 earnings of $6.19 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.10. Earnings rose 42% year over year on the back of higher product sales.

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United Therapeutics markets four products for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) — Tyvaso, Orenitram, Adcirca and Remodulin. It also markets Unituxin for treating pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma.

Revenues came in at $735.9 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $725.3 million. Revenues rose 20% year over year, driven by meaningful growth of key products — Tyvaso, Remodulin, Orenitram and Unituxin.

More on UTHR’s Earnings

The company markets two versions of Tyvaso — Tyvaso dry powder inhalation (DPI) and nebulized Tyvaso. Both versions are approved for PAH and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD) indications.

Tyvaso DPI recorded sales of $273.2 million, up 28% year over year, while sales from nebulized Tyvaso were $142.7 million, up 4%.

Overall, Tyvaso sales were $415.9 million, up 19% year over year, driven by higher volumes and price increases, which were partially offset by higher gross-to-net deductions. Continued growth in commercialization utilization by PH-ILD patients led to patient growth, which in turn benefited volumes. Tyvaso sales, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $425 million and our model estimate of $424.8 million.

Remodulin (including Remunity Pump) sales rose 17% year over year to $134.5 million due to higher volume growth in the United States.

Sales of Orenitram rose 28% year over year to $107.8 million, driven by higher volumes, partly due to increased commercialization following the implementation of the Part D redesign under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Unituxin sales rose 25% year over year to $67.5 million. Adcirca sales were $4.7 million, down 31%.

Shares of UTHR were down almost 4% in pre-market trading despite the earnings and sales beat. This could be because of lower-than-expected sales of Tyvaso.

In the past year, shares of United Therapeutics have surged 57.6% against the industry’s 15.4% decline.

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Research and development expenses were $133.8 million in the quarter, down 12% year over year due to certain in-process research and development (IPR&D) costs recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Selling, general and administrative expenses surged 27% to $168.5 million in the quarter due to higher personnel expenses and legal costs.

UTHR's Full-Year 2024 Results

Full-quarter 2024 earnings of $24.64 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $24.48. Earnings rose 124.3% year over year.

Revenues were $2.89 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.87 billion. Revenues rose 24% year over year.

UTHR’s Pipeline & Other Update

United Therapeutics’ key phase III programs include Tyvaso in patients with various forms of chronic fibrosing interstitial lung disease (TETON studies) and oral ralinepag in PAH indications (ADVANCE OUTCOMES study).

The TETON 1 and TETON 2 studies are registrational late-stage studies evaluating a nebulized version of Tyvaso for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Enrollment is complete in both studies.

Top-line data from the TETON-2 study is expected in second-half 2025. Data from the TETON 1 study is expected in the first half of 2026. If the drug is approved in the IPF indication, management expects Tyvaso sales to exceed the drug’s sales in the PAH indication.

A phase III TETON PPF study is also ongoing to evaluate Tyvaso in patients with progressive pulmonary fibrosis.

Data from ralinepag studies are expected next year

United Therapeutics has different kinds of organ manufacturing products in clinical and preclinical development. These include xenotransplantation, 3-D organ bioprinting, bio-artificial organs, regenerative medicine and ex-vivo lung perfusion.

In February, the FDA cleared its investigational new drug application to start a clinical registration-enabling xenotransplantation study with its investigational UKidney derived from a 10 gene-edited source pig.

UTHR’s Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

United Therapeuticscurrently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks from the sector are Immunocore (IMCR - Free Report) , Pacira BioSciences (PCRX - Free Report) and Amicus Therapeutics (FOLD - Free Report) . While Immunocore and Pacira BioSciences currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, Amicus Therapeutics carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the past 30 days, estimates for Immunocore’s 2025 loss per share have narrowed from $1.66 to $1.62 per share. In the past year, shares of Immunocore have declined 58.5%.

IMCR’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, while missing in the remaining two, delivering an average surprise of 25.57%.

In the past 30 days, estimates for Pacira BioSciences’ 2025 earnings per share have risen from $3.11 to $3.59. In the past year, shares of PCRX have declined 15.8%.

Pacira BioSciences’ earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, missed the same in one, while meeting estimates in the remaining quarter. The average four-quarter surprise is 7.13%.

In the past 30 days, estimates for Amicus Therapeutics’ 2025 earnings per share have remained stable at 43 cents. In the past year, shares of FOLD have lost 34.2%.

FOLD’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, delivering an average surprise of 45.42%.

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