Acorda (ACOR) Top-Line Growth Should Accelerate in H214; Aegis Affirms 'Buy' Rating

Aegis Capital affirms Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) at Buy with a target price of $50 following Q1 results and update.

Analyst Ram Selvaraju commented, Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.21, slightly below our forecast of $0.24; however, GAAP earnings per share were $0.02, following the impact of a substantially higher effective tax rate of 80%. The firm's top-line revenues were also weaker than our projections, coming in at $80.5mm vs. our expectation of $89.5mm. However, we note that the company reiterated its full-year 2014 guidance of $328mm - $335mm in Ampyra net revenue, $25mm in ZANAFLEX franchise sales and ex-U.S. dalfampridine royalty-based revenue, and $9.1mm in amortized licensing revenue. Accordingly, we believe that the first-quarter weakness is a temporary blip and that the company's revenue growth should accelerate in the second half of the year. Additionally, Acorda is slated to move once-daily dalfampridine into a Phase 2 / 3 trial in post-stroke deficit in the second half of 2014. The potential in post-stroke deficit dwarfs the drug's value in multiple sclerosis (MS), since the stroke indication is ten times larger in the U.S. alone.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. click here. For more ratings news on Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. click here.

Shares of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. closed at $31.73 yesterday.

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