MannKind Corporation To Report Earnings Feb. 24

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Analysts with Zacks predict MannKind will post losses of 10 cents per share for the December quarter

MannKind is scheduled to release its fourth quarter and full year earnings report on Tuesday morning before opening bell. Management has scheduled the earnings call for 5 p.m. Eastern on the same day. New CEO Hakan Edstrom and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Pfeffer will participate in the earnings call.

What to expect in MannKind’s earnings report

So what can we expect in the drug maker’s earnings report? If the last six earnings reports are anything to go by, it could be a disappointment—possibly a very big disappointment.

Analysts at Zacks expect MannKind to report losses of 10 cents per share for the fourth quarter and losses of 51 cents per share for the full year. For the March quarter, they’re expecting to see losses of 14 cents per share.

Will MannKind’s Afrezza be a success?

MannKind and marketing partner Sanofi just launched the inhaled insulin Afrezza in the U.S. earlier this month, so we still won’t have any information on how sales of it are doing. Most analysts agree that MannKind’s future hangs on the success of Afrezza.

So will Afrezza be MannKind’s ticket out of the red? There’s been a lot of talk that the insulin should have fewer side effects than other types of insulin, but as of yet, there isn’t enough data to prove this is true. Currently those who are marketing Afrezza can only say that it isn’t inferior to other insulin products on the market.

However, there is another big reason some think Afrezza will be a success.

Afrezza sales may disappoint in the beginning

Forbes contributor Ken Kam argues that diabetics will eventually embrace Afrezza with open arms because the drug does not require them to inject themselves like other forms of insulin do. He points to comments from diabetics who simply don’t like having to inject themselves in public.

However, he also notes that most diabetics probably don’t even know about Afrezza, so they won’t ask their doctors about it. Also it will take some time for doctors to get some experience in prescribing the insulin so they can learn about whether it really does cause fewer side effects.

As a result, Kam believes that while early sales of Afrezza will disappoint, the drug could really take off, but it might take a few years for that to happen. He’s extremely bullish on MannKind, saying he would “bet the farm” on a portfolio with the same risk-reward profile as MannKind.

As of this writing, shares of MannKind were down by 3.37% to $6.88 per share.

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