Why Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Jumped 9.03% on Friday
Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), a biopharmaceutical stock that specializes in cystic fibrosis (CF) and gene-editing therapies, saw its shares jump 9.03% on Friday. The stock closed at $287.89 on Thursday, then opened on Friday at $302 before rising to $313.89 in the late afternoon. It's now close to its 52-week high of $316.48. Its 52-week low is $179.96. So far this year, the stock is up more than 41%.
The company released its third-quarter earnings report after the market closed on Thursday and the numbers were strong enough to give the stock a boost on Friday.
Vertex reported revenue of $2.33 billion, up 18% year over year, and net income of $931 million and earnings per share (EPS) of $3.59, both up 9% over the same period in 2021. The company reiterated that it intends to submit its biologics licensing application to the Food and Drug Administration soon for exa-cel, the promising gene-editing blood therapy it developed with CRISPR Therapeutics. Vertex also said it had begun a phase 3 trial for VX-548 as a therapy for acute pain.
Source Fool.com
