Is CTLT a buy as it pushes to new highs?
Catalent, Inc. (NYSE:CTLT) is an American company that operates in the pharmaceutical industry. CTLT provide delivery technologies, development, and manufacturing solutions for drugs, biologics, cell and gene therapies, and consumer health products. Catalent employs 14,000 people, including approximately 2,500 scientists and technicians, at more than 45 facilities. Catalent’s market cap is currently valued at $21.5 billion. At last check, CTLT was up 3% at $129.97.
The pharmaceutical company will release its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens on Monday, August 30. CTLT has outperformed earnings expectations on all four of its most recent earnings reports released. For Q4 of fiscal 2020, Catalent beat analyst estimates by a margin of $0.11 and reported an EPS of $0.90. For Q1 of fiscal 2021, CTLT's EPS decreased to $0.43, still beating expectations by a margin of $0.06. For Q2 of fiscal 2021, Catalent posted an increase in earnings, rising to $0.63 per share. The company also beat estimates by a margin of $0.08. For Q3 of fiscal 2021, CTLT reported an EPS of $0.82 and beat expectations by a margin of $0.08 once again.
Catalent stock has increased by about 47% year-over-year and is up 63% since bottoming at a 52-week low of $79.65 last September. Additionally, shares of CTLT have grown 22% year-to-date and Catalent stock hit an all-time high of $130.48 today, with long-term support stemming from the 30-day moving average. CTLT is now eyeing its fifth-straight daily gain.
Moreover, CTLT has maintained strong growth in recent year, which has caused Catalent stock to trade at very high price-earnings ratio of 42.75. Overall, the pharmaceutical brand's exceptional and consistent fundamentals makes Catalent stock a viable growth play. However, CTLT’s forward price-earnings ratio of 38.02 means Catalent stock has already priced in a multiple years of growth.
Lastly, analysts are looking optimistic ahead of earnings. Heading into Wednesday's trading, eight of the nine covering brokerage firms posted a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.