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SALT LAKE CITY - Shares of Myriad Genetics Inc. climbed to a seven-year high Tuesday after the company posted strong third-quarter results, swinging to a profit due to gains in molecular diagnostics sales.
Myriad shares advanced $7.32 or 11.8 percent, to $69.45, and set a high of $71.94 after Myriad said its molecular diagnostics sales jumped 52 percent in the third quarter. Myriad said it is "confident" molecular diagnostics revenue will be greater than Wall Street's expectations of $309 million for the year.
The molecular diagnostics business focuses on predictive medicine, or genetic links to diseases, and personalized medicine. The company says it has found genetic links that show predisposition to type 2 diabetes and depression. It is working on personalized medical products for cancers of the lung, pancreas, ovaries, breast and colon.
The company said the third quarter was its first profitable quarter from operations. Myriad was in the black during the second quarter largely because of a $100 million license payment from Danish drugmaker H. Lundbeck A/S. Lundbeck wanted to market Myriad's Alzheimer's disease drug candidate Flurizan in Europe, but Myriad ended development of Flurizan after disappointing trial results.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee said the quarter was strong even though Myriad is still waiting to see the benefits from a campaign that markets its products to physicians and consumers in the southern U.S. — which will benefit the company in the fourth quarter.
Sales in the Northeast are still improving after a similar program in that region ended, he added.
Citi Investment Research analyst Lucy Lu said Myriad's research and development costs were less than she expected. She thinks those costs will rise in the coming quarters as Myriad develops other drug candidates, until the company finishes spinning of its pharmaceutical business in 2010.
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