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Analysts Weigh In on Lantheus Holdings Amid Pylarify Challenges and Lowered Growth Forecasts

Published
28 Aug 24
Updated
23 Oct 25
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AnalystConsensusTarget's Fair Value
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1Y
-37.2%
7D
2.4%

Author's Valuation

US$83.2131.2% undervalued intrinsic discount

AnalystConsensusTarget Fair Value

Last Update 23 Oct 25

Fair value Decreased 1.27%

Analysts Weigh In on Lantheus Holdings Amid Pylarify Challenges and Lowered Growth Forecasts

Lantheus Holdings' analyst price target was reduced slightly to $83.21 from $84.29, as analysts factor in ongoing Pylarify pricing pressures and moderated revenue growth expectations, while continued profitability helps balance these concerns.

Analyst Commentary

Analyst sentiment regarding Lantheus Holdings has shifted recently, with both optimistic and cautious perspectives shaping the company's investment narrative. Recent research notes have highlighted several key factors contributing to the current outlook surrounding Lantheus' valuation, execution, and growth prospects.

Bullish Takeaways
  • Bullish analysts maintain a Buy recommendation, even though recent price targets have been reduced. This reflects confidence in the company’s long-term growth and profitability potential.
  • There is ongoing belief in the underappreciated value of Lantheus’ pipeline and royalty opportunities, such as Flyrcado and Pylclari.
  • Domestic volumes for Pylarify remain positive, with year-over-year growth as market dynamics shift.
  • Some analysts anticipate stabilization and recovery for Pylarify following the approval and rollout of newer, second-generation formulations in the coming years.
Bearish Takeaways
  • Bearish analysts note uncertainty around Pylarify’s market share, with continued pricing pressure and competition affecting growth visibility and sales expectations.
  • Recent downgrades and lowered price targets indicate a risk of further deceleration in revenues over the next two quarters, particularly as Pylarify trends remain volatile.
  • Concerns have been raised about slower-than-expected adoption of key therapeutics and bolt-on acquisitions, which may obscure the trajectory of organic growth.
  • The consensus is that share price recovery will likely depend on gaining greater clarity around the stabilization of Pylarify and a return to more predictable earnings performance.

What's in the News

  • Lantheus Holdings and GE HealthCare entered an exclusive licensing agreement for GE HealthCare to develop, manufacture, and commercialize PYLARIFY in Japan for prostate cancer diagnostics. The deal includes upfront fees, potential development milestones, tiered royalties, and the formation of a joint steering committee.
  • A class action lawsuit has been filed against Lantheus Holdings and certain executives, alleging misleading statements about Pylarify's growth potential and competition risks. Recent announcements of lowered sales projections led to significant drops in Lantheus stock price.
  • The FDA accepted a New Drug Application for a new formulation of Lantheus' PSMA imaging agent, with a goal action date of March 6, 2026. The new formulation aims to improve manufacturing efficiency and expand patient access.
  • Lantheus completed the repurchase of 2,375,873 shares for $199.94 million as part of its ongoing buyback program. The company has authorization for up to $400 million in share repurchases through 2027.
  • Lantheus lowered its 2025 revenue guidance to $1.475 to $1.51 billion from a prior $1.55 to $1.585 billion range.

Valuation Changes

  • Consensus Analyst Price Target has fallen slightly to $83.21 from $84.29, reflecting more cautious revenue expectations.
  • Discount Rate has edged down marginally from 7.75% to 7.74%, suggesting a slightly lower risk premium assigned to the company.
  • Revenue Growth projections are down modestly, with expectations decreasing from 5.67% to 5.59%.
  • Net Profit Margin has improved slightly, rising to 23.19% from 23.14%. This indicates a small increase in projected profitability.
  • Future P/E has decreased from 16.00x to 15.79x. This points to a modestly lower valuation multiple on forecasted earnings.

Key Takeaways

  • Alzheimer's and prostate cancer imaging expansions, plus new product launches, are expected to drive strong revenue growth and diversify the company's portfolio.
  • Strategic acquisitions and industry tailwinds position the company for sustained margin improvement and growth across radiopharmaceutical and neuroimaging markets.
  • Heavy dependence on a single product amid intensifying competition, pricing pressure, and limited diversification threatens revenue growth and earnings stability despite ongoing acquisition efforts.

Catalysts

About Lantheus Holdings
    Develops, manufactures, and commercializes diagnostic and therapeutic products that assist clinicians in diagnosis and treatment of heart, cancer, and other diseases worldwide.
What are the underlying business or industry changes driving this perspective?
  • The expansion of Lantheus's Alzheimer's disease imaging franchise-including the recent FDA label expansion for Neuraceq and late-stage tau-targeted radiodiagnostic MK-6240-positions the company to capture accelerating demand driven by broader adoption of amyloid-targeted therapies and increased focus on early diagnosis. This is likely to drive strong revenue growth as the U.S. PET imaging market for Alzheimer's is expected to exceed $1.5 billion by 2030.
  • The development, anticipated approval, and launch of the new high-yield PYLARIFY formulation are expected to deliver meaningful gross margin improvement and restore revenue growth for the prostate cancer imaging franchise, by expanding supply, improving geographic access, and resetting reimbursement dynamics with potential 340B price resets and three years of transitional pass-through status.
  • Multiple new product launches within the next 18 months-including the new F-18 PSMA PET, MK-6240, OCTEVY, and PNT2003-are set to diversify the revenue base, mitigate concentration risk, and open additional growth channels in oncology and neuroendocrine tumor imaging, supporting both top-line and future earnings expansion.
  • Recent acquisitions (Evergreen and Life Molecular Imaging) enhance Lantheus's manufacturing capabilities, broaden its product portfolio, and provide an immediate and scalable entry into high-growth radiopharmaceutical and neuroimaging markets, which should support both revenue growth and longer-term operating margin improvements.
  • Long-term demand tailwinds from an aging population, increased incidence of chronic diseases, and the structural shift toward early diagnosis and personalized medicine underpin sustainable volume growth for Lantheus's radiopharmaceuticals in both core and emerging markets, positively impacting revenues and offering upside to valuation if the stock is currently discounted.

Lantheus Holdings Earnings and Revenue Growth

Lantheus Holdings Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

How have these above catalysts been quantified?
  • Analysts are assuming Lantheus Holdings's revenue will grow by 5.7% annually over the next 3 years.
  • Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 17.8% today to 23.4% in 3 years time.
  • Analysts expect earnings to reach $419.8 million (and earnings per share of $5.75) by about September 2028, up from $271.0 million today. However, there is a considerable amount of disagreement amongst the analysts with the most bullish expecting $472.3 million in earnings, and the most bearish expecting $259.8 million.
  • In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 16.8x on those 2028 earnings, up from 13.8x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the US Medical Equipment industry at 29.7x.
  • Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 2.2% per year for the next 3 years.
  • To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 7.75%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Lantheus Holdings Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Lantheus Holdings Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

What could happen that would invalidate this narrative?
  • Intensifying price competition in the PSMA PET imaging market, especially from F-18 competitors, has resulted in Lantheus accepting lower prices, renegotiating contracts, and walking away from certain volumes, leading to ongoing net price compression and posing a risk to revenue and net margins.
  • Continued over-reliance on PYLARIFY as the primary revenue driver, combined with signs of market share loss and the likelihood of flat or negative PYLARIFY growth in 2026, creates vulnerability to further competitive disruption or reimbursement changes, negatively impacting long-term earnings stability.
  • Slow growth within large institutional customers and failure to fully penetrate the broader, high-growth PET imaging market-where competitors are gaining-limits Lantheus' ability to offset pricing and contract pressures, constraining overall revenue growth prospects.
  • Strategic acquisitions and diversification efforts (e.g., Evergreen, LMI/Neuraceq) provide new growth drivers but are expected to deliver only low-single-digit EPS accretion in the near term, and integration/dilution risks remain, potentially weighing on aggregate net margin improvement and earnings growth.
  • Best-price resets, 340B program exposure, and future regulatory changes (e.g., TPT/ASP dynamics) create reimbursement headwinds that may further erode pricing power and profitability, especially if new entrants or competing modalities accelerate adoption, impacting both revenue and net margins.

Valuation

How have all the factors above been brought together to estimate a fair value?
  • The analysts have a consensus price target of $89.5 for Lantheus Holdings based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $130.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $63.0.
  • In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $1.8 billion, earnings will come to $419.8 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 16.8x, assuming you use a discount rate of 7.8%.
  • Given the current share price of $55.07, the analyst price target of $89.5 is 38.5% higher.
  • We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.

How well do narratives help inform your perspective?

Disclaimer

AnalystConsensusTarget is a tool utilizing a Large Language Model (LLM) that ingests data on consensus price targets, forecasted revenue and earnings figures, as well as the transcripts of earnings calls to produce qualitative analysis. The narratives produced by AnalystConsensusTarget are general in nature and are based solely on analyst data and publicly-available material published by the respective companies. These scenarios are not indicative of the company's future performance and are exploratory in nature. Simply Wall St has no position in the company(s) mentioned. Simply Wall St may provide the securities issuer or related entities with website advertising services for a fee, on an arm's length basis. These relationships have no impact on the way we conduct our business, the content we host, or how our content is served to users. The price targets and estimates used are consensus data, and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and they do not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Note that AnalystConsensusTarget's analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

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