The pharmaceutical stock reported a third-quarter earnings and revenue win
The shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: REGN) are up 0.3% at $588.86 at last check, after the company reported third-quarter earnings of $8.36 per share -- significantly higher than Wall Street's estimates of $7.14 per share -- as well as a revenue beat. The pharmaceutical concern attributed the strong results to a 9% jump in sales of eye drug Eylea. In addition, U.S. health regulators are currently analyzing the company's experimental COVID-19 antibody cocktail, which could soon be approved for emergency use.
Digging deeper, REGN has been cooling off from an July 20 all-time-high of $664.64 over the last couple of months. And while shares are struggling with overhead pressure at the $600 level, today's pop has the security consolidating above the 60-day moving average, which had emerged as a ceiling after a lengthy period of support. Year-over-year, the stock is up 81.8%.
Analysts are mostly split toward the security, with 11 of the 20 in question sporting a "strong buy" rating, and the remaining nine sporting a tepid "hold." Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $673.08 is a whopping 14.1% premium to the stock's current perch.
Shorts are building their positions, too. Short interest is up 45.6% in the the last two reporting periods, and the 2.33 million shares sold short account for a significant 2.3% of the stock's available float. At the stock's average pace of trading, it would take roughly three days to buy back these bearish bets.
The options pits are leaning pessimistic, with puts popular. This is per the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.40 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which stands higher than all readings from the past year. This indicates puts are being picked up at a faster-than-usual pace.