PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Good News From Aurinia Pharmaceuticals In A Down Week

Rarely mentioned in the recent chaos in the markets is the biotech sector. With a heavy emphasis in 2020 and 2021 on finding cures and treatments for COVID-19, major drug approvals from the FDA have been few and far between this year.

In addition, with the recent emphasis and value on companies that actually make money instead of burn through it, there is yet another reason this sector has been ignored. While biotech companies usually move off drug announcements, they can move off an earnings report.

With that in mind, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. AUPH is the PreMarket Prep Stock of the Day.

The Company: Aurinia is a biopharmaceutical company. It provides products for patients suffering from serious diseases with high unmet medical needs. The firm is developing voclosporin, an investigational drug, for the treatment of lupus nephritis, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and dry eye syndrome. 

Aurinia's Rough 6 Months: Aurinia hit its all-time high in early November at $33.97, but faltered to end the month at $18.84. It has attempted to rebound on several different occasions, but when it could not hold $20 to end January, the pace of the decline accelerated.

In fact, Aurinia breached its pandemic low on Monday, falling to $8.86, and posted its lowest close since March 2020 at $8.95.

Aurinia's Q1 Report: In a market environment where investors are searching for any positive news, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals provided some.

Before the open Tuesday, Aurinia reported quarterly losses of 27 cents per share, which met the analyst consensus estimate. This is a 32.5% increase over losses of 40 cents per share from the same period last year. The company reported quarterly sales of $21.6 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $19.76 million by 9.31%.

AUPH Price Action: Aurinia's higher opening tick of $9.61 has turned out to be the low for the day as of 1 p.m. EST.

The continuation rally easily surpassed Monday’s high ($10.06), rallying into the $11 handle. At this time, it has peaked just ahead of the pair of highs from May 4 ($11.37) and May 5 ($11.38), only reaching $11.14.

It should be noted that heading into the report, the issue had a three-day rally to start the month, resulting in a close of $11.37 on May 4, which was followed by a three-day decline and its lowest close since March 2020.