WuXi AppTec Shares Rise After First-Half Earnings Beat

By Sherry Qin

WuXi AppTec's shares rose Tuesday after the company's first-half earnings beat consensus.

The Chinese pharmaceutical company's Hong Kong-listed shares were recently 4.6% higher at 76.90 Hong Kong dollars (US$9.86), after earlier touching HK$78.45, their highest intraday level since June 2020, according to FactSet.

WuXi AppTec's first-half net profit rose to 5.31 billion yuan ($743.4 million) from CNY4.64 billion a year earlier, the company said late Monday. First-half revenue grew 6.3% to CNY18.87 billion, led by the chemistry segment. Management said demand from long-tail customers in small molecule, oligo and peptide discovery remained strong.

Citigroup analyst John Yung maintained his 2023 revenue growth guidance of 5-7%, but said he has stronger confidence on the company's margin improvement and cash flow.

Citi maintained a buy rating on WuXi AppTec's H-shares with an unchanged target price of HK$185.00.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 31, 2023 23:24 ET (03:24 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.