What happened
Emergent BioSolutions(NYSE: EBS) probably wishes it had stayed in bed on Tuesday. The company's stock declined by nearly 12% that day, following its release of quarterly results that fell well short of expectations on the bottom line.
So what
For its fourth quarter of 2022, Emergent booked revenue of just under $331 million, which was 54% below the same quarter of the previous year. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net income plunged into the red, with a more than $15 million ($0.31 per share) loss against the year-ago profit of over $243 million.
This meant a mixed quarter for Emergent, as the average analyst estimate for revenue was only $297 million. However, those prognosticators were anticipating an adjusted bottom-line profit of $0.04 per share.
Of its two business divisions, Emergent's services unit was a real problem area. This segment contains the company's contract-developing and manufacturing-organization (CDMO) services, which withered due to the cessation of manufacturing at a key company facility for two top pharmaceutical companies (Johnson & Johnson's Janssen and AstraZeneca).
Now what
On the bright side, Emergent anticipates some growth for 2023. On the back of what it termed "continued stability of revenues and further improvements in operations and normalizing of cost structure," the company anticipates total revenue for the year will be $1.15 billion. This would be 2.6% higher than the 2022 tally.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDTA) should come in at $100 million; the 2022 result was $26 million.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Emergent BioSolutions and Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
