Shares of Laboratorios Rovi soared more than 7 percent on the IBEX 35 after the company reported much better 2022 results than expected by analyst consensus.
Net profit reached 199.7 million euros, 20 percent more, compared to the 178 million expected by the market.
In addition, ebitda shot up 37 percent, to 278.7 million euros, while sales rose 26 percent, to 817.7 million euros.
The engine of these results was manufacturing to third parties, a division that includes Rovi’s agreement with Moderna for vaccines against Covid-19, whose sales shot up 52 percent, to 403 million, practically half of all that the group invoiced, according to informed the company to the National Securities Market Commission.
With the pandemic clearly evolving downward, Rovi knew how to find its market niche to commercially exploit the virus.
It is just the opposite of what happened to Pharmamar. The Galician biotech company was forced to close its Neptuno trial to test the efficacy of Aplidin against Covid-19, after the lack of hospitalized patients made it impossible to continue with the tests.
Rovi squeezes the Moderna vaccine
Rovi’s figures showed the third-party manufacturing division’s sales grew 52 percent. The strategy of this line of business includes the ten-year agreement with Moderna.
The growth reported by the company exceeded the high forecast band advanced in the 2021 results by 12 points. “The record of revenue related to the production of the Covid-19 vaccine” was one of the catalysts, Rovi said.
For James Conean analyst at Jefferies, this was the key to the results, as revenue from this division exceeded his expectations by 9 percent.
In the same line, Luis Arredondoan analyst at Banco Sabadell, highlighted “the acceleration of manufacturing sales to third parties in the quarter due to the increased activity of filling and packaging vaccines for Moderna and the slowdown in low molecular weight heparins.”
From Bankinter, Pedro Echeguren He also stressed “the strong increase in sales in manufacturing to third parties” driven by “the manufacture of the new doses adapted to combat the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of omicron”.
Rovi reiterates its business guides for 2023
Regarding business projections, Rovi reiterated its guidance for 2023, which includes a decrease in operating income of between 10 percent and 20 percent.
However, the market was not nervous about these projections. With ebitda having come out 14 percent above consensus, these comments “are reasonable and must be put into perspective,” he argued. Cone.
In any case, the group announced a 35 percent increase in the dividend, up to 1.2938 euros per share, which was “above expectations,” he recalled. Arredondo. According to his calculations, the dividend yield is 3.2 percent.
The consular sources framed Rovi’s rebound due to the goodness of the figures presented, but also due to the 51 percent punishment that the listed company suffered in the last twelve months in relation to the IBEX 35.
So things, hours considered that the valuation “is again attractive”. Specifically, Rovi is trading at a 2023 EV/ebitda multiple of 10 times, compared to its average of 21 times recorded between 2018 and 2022. This expert changed his recommendation from neutral to buy.
