Tribute Pharmaceuticals Q3 gets thumbs up at Laurentian

A solid third quarter has Laurentian Bank Securities analyst Joseph Walewicz feeling bullish about Tribute Pharmaceuticals (Tribute Pharmaceuticals Stock Quote, Chart, News: TSXV:TRX).

Yesterday, Tribute Pharmaceuticals reported its Q3, 2015 results. The company earned $1.57-million on revenue of $9-million, up 132.8% from the same period last year.

“During the third quarter, we continued to report strong growth with a 132.8% increase in revenues and a 200.7% increase in gross profit for the quarter,” said CEO Rob Harris. “We accomplished this by successfully executing our business plan which included increased sales of our promoted products, increased sales of our international business and our ability to add new higher margin products through our business development efforts. Cambia trademark continues to respond well to our sales force promotion and total prescriptions during the third quarter 2015 increased by 89.2% compared to the same period in 2014. We should also note that Tribute did not take any price increases on any of our products during the quarter.”

Walewicz says Tribute, which in June announced it would merge with Pozen in a (U.S.) $146-million deal, is experiencing growth that is being driven by recent acquisitions, but also has a core business that is performing well.

“Excluding this year’s acquisitions, the underlying business continues to perform well, including Cambia prescriptions up 89% vs. the same quarter last year,” says the Laurentian analyst. “On the regulatory front, MFI’s ibSium product was approved by Health Canada in Jun/15 and TRX is planning for a market launch in the first half of 2016. Health Canada is also reviewing TRX’s NDS for bilastine, a new antihistamine that (if approved) should launch in 2016.”

In a research report to clients today, Walewicz explained that he has changed his rating on Tribute Pharmaceuticals from “Buy” to “Tender” following the agreement with Pozen. He has also removed his price target as he expects Tribute to trade in-line with Pozen’s shares.