The earnings report can be a blessing or a curse, and for biotech stock Heron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HRTX), it was a curse escalating into a disaster. Heron lost over 37% of its value in Friday’s trading, and it all comes back to an earnings report that missed on virtually every front.
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The only plus side that could be said for Heron’s results is that the net loss it posted this time around wasn’t nearly as bad as the net loss it posted a year prior. It brought its net loss down from $63.96 million in 2022’s first quarter to just $32.77 million in 2023’s. Revenue rose too, up 26.2% against this time last year, hitting $29.62 million. However, that wasn’t quite enough to satisfy analysts, who projected $29.69 million. Earnings per share also faltered, coming in at -$0.27 against expectations of -$0.20.
Heron attributed its gains to a rise in oncology care, which added an extra 15% against this time last year, hitting $25.8 million by itself. Its pain drug, Zynrelef, hit $3.5 million in the first quarter. That was actually down slightly from the fourth quarter of 2022, which came in at $3.9 million. Barry Quart offered a somewhat more hopeful outlook, noting that Zynrelef would actually have more customers if its vial design were improved. A “vial access needle” (VAN) play may help, Quart noted, but it certainly comes too late to help anything currently.
The news comes at a bad time for Heron, based on the last five days of trading. Heron’s share price was already trending slightly downward when the news hit. Afterward, the bottom dropped out, and a much bigger loss followed.
