Ligand Hosts 2025 Investor Day and Introduces 2026 Guidance

Rhea-AI Summary

Ligand (Nasdaq: LGND) hosted an Investor Day on Dec 9, 2025 and introduced 2026 guidance. The company forecasted 2026 total revenue $245m–$285m, including royalty revenue $200m–$225m (about a 40% increase vs 2025) and core adjusted EPS $8.00–$9.00. Ligand reiterated 2025 guidance of core revenue $225m–$235m and outlined a 5-year royalty receipts outlook of ≥23% CAGR. Management highlighted drivers including Filspari, Ohtuvayre, Capvaxive, Qarziba, and Zelsuvmi, noted $1 billion of deployable capital for royalty investments, and described Captisol and NITRICIL as royalty-generating platforms. The Investor Day was webcast live with presentation replay available on the company website.

Positive

• 2026 revenue guidance of $245M–$285M
• 2026 royalty revenue guided at $200M–$225M (≈40% increase)
• Core adjusted EPS guidance of $8.00–$9.00
• $1 billion in deployable capital to fund royalty growth
• 5-year royalty receipts outlook of at least 23% CAGR

Negative

• Core contract revenue guided down to $10M–$20M in 2026 from $38M in 2025
• Company declined to reconcile forward-looking non-GAAP core measures to GAAP due to high variability

News Market Reaction

+0.63%

1 alert

+0.63% News Effect

On the day this news was published, LGND gained 0.63%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

2026 revenue guidance: $245M–$285M 2026 royalty revenue: $200M–$225M 2026 core EPS: $8.00–$9.00 +5 more

8 metrics

2026 revenue guidance $245M–$285M Introduced full-year 2026 total revenue guidance

2026 royalty revenue $200M–$225M 2026 royalty revenue component of total guidance

2026 core EPS $8.00–$9.00 2026 core adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance

5-year royalty CAGR 23% Long-term royalty receipts expected compound annual growth rate

Deployable capital $1 billion Capital expected to drive long-term royalty revenue growth

2025 core revenue $225M–$235M Reiterated 2025 total core revenue guidance

2025 core EPS $7.40–$7.65 Reiterated 2025 core adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance

2025 investments $130M Committed across six investments during 2025

Market Reality Check

Price: $195.49 Vol: Volume 203,860 vs 20-day ...

normal vol

$195.49 Last Close

Volume Volume 203,860 vs 20-day average 227,786 (relative volume 0.89) shows trading slightly below typical activity ahead of Investor Day. normal

Technical Price $184.67 is trading above the 200-day MA of $141.23, reflecting an established uptrend into this guidance update.

Peers on Argus

LGND slipped 0.11%, while key biotech peers like TLX (-0.82%), APLS (-0.34%), SR...

LGND slipped 0.11%, while key biotech peers like TLX (-0.82%), APLS (-0.34%), SRRK (-1.37%), ZLAB (-0.94%) and ADMA (-3.10%) also traded lower, indicating broader sector softness rather than a company-specific rally on this positive guidance.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Nov 06 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Nov 06	Q3 earnings beat	Positive	+9.4%	Strong Q3 revenue growth and raised 2025 core revenue and EPS guidance.
Oct 30	Investor conferences	Positive	+2.3%	Management participation in multiple November healthcare investor conferences.
Oct 23	Earnings call date	Neutral	-0.2%	Announcement of Q3 2025 earnings release date and conference call details.
Oct 16	Investor Day notice	Positive	-1.4%	Planned Dec 9 Investor Day focused on strategy and royalty portfolio.
Oct 09	FDA approval	Positive	-1.2%	Partner SQ Innovation received FDA approval for Captisol-enabled Lasix ONYU.

Pattern Detected

Recent history shows LGND sometimes trading flat or lower after positive catalysts, with only 2 of 5 upbeat events followed by clear positive price reactions.

Recent Company History

Over the last few months, Ligand reported strong Q3 2025 results with revenue of $115.5M, sharply higher year over year, and raised 2025 core revenue guidance to $225M–$235M and core adjusted EPS to $7.40–$7.65. That earnings event saw a 9.37% gain, while other positive items such as its FDA approval-related Captisol milestone and Investor Day announcement produced modest declines. Today’s Investor Day expands the forward outlook by introducing detailed 2026 guidance and a 5-year royalty growth framework.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement sets out a clearer long-term roadmap, with 2026 revenue of $245M–$285M, royalty re...

Analysis

This announcement sets out a clearer long-term roadmap, with 2026 revenue of $245M–$285M, royalty revenue of $200M–$225M, and core EPS of $8.00–$9.00. Management also targets at least 23% royalty receipts CAGR and cites $1B of deployable capital to support growth. Compared with the prior raise to 2025 guidance, this extends visibility but still relies on partner execution and royalty performance, making future updates on key programs and capital deployment important to track.

Key Terms

compound annual growth rate, adjusted earnings per diluted share, GAAP, non-GAAP

4 terms

compound annual growth rate financial

"expects to meet or exceed 23% compound annual growth rate"

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) shows how much an investment or value has grown, on average, each year over a specific period. It considers the effect of growth that compounds or builds upon itself, similar to how interest accumulates in a savings account. Investors use CAGR to compare different investments’ long-term performance and to understand how steady or consistent their growth has been over time.

adjusted earnings per diluted share financial

"adjusted earnings per diluted share is a key component of the financial metrics"

Adjusted earnings per diluted share shows a company's profit attributable to each share after accounting for potential new shares (like stock options or convertible securities) and excluding one-time or unusual items that can distort results. Investors use it as a cleaned-up per-share profit measure—like checking a car’s fuel efficiency after ignoring a bad tank of gas—to compare underlying performance over time or across companies, though the adjustments can vary by management.

GAAP financial

"financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP"

GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, are a set of standardized rules and guidelines that companies follow when preparing their financial statements. They ensure consistency, transparency, and comparability across different companies, making it easier for investors to understand and compare financial information accurately. This helps investors make informed decisions based on trustworthy and uniform financial reports.

non-GAAP financial

"reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP core revenue, adjusted earnings per diluted share"

Non-GAAP refers to financial measures that companies use to show their earnings or performance without including certain expenses or income that are often added back to give a different picture. It matters because it can make a company's results look better or more favorable, but it may also hide important costs, so investors need to look at both GAAP (official rules) and non-GAAP numbers to get a full understanding.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

• Introduces 2026 full year revenue guidance of $245 million to $285 million, an approximately 15% increase in core revenue growth over 2025, royalty revenue of $200 to $225 million, a 40% increase over 2025¹, and core adjusted earnings per diluted share of $8.00 to $9.00²
  
  
• Increases 5-year royalty receipt outlook driven by Filspari, Ohtuvayre, and Zelsuvmi; expects to meet or exceed 23% compound annual growth rate
  
  
• $1 billion in deployable capital expected to drive long-term royalty revenue growth
  
  

JUPITER, Fla., Dec. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: LGND) will host its Investor Day in New York City today. The event will include presentations from the Ligand senior management team highlighting the company’s strategy, investment activity, royalty portfolio, and long-term financial outlook. Scott Plesha, CEO of Pelthos Therapeutics, a Ligand partner, will also discuss the recent launch of Zelsuvmi.

“2025 was an exciting year for Ligand, highlighted by meaningful advancements across our royalty portfolio and important contributions from our partners. Our outlook for the business has never been stronger. We are executing our strategy with clarity and commitment, and we believe this positions us well to continue delivering value for our shareholders while supporting the development of innovative medicines,” said Todd Davis, CEO of Ligand.

At today’s event, Ligand’s senior management team will highlight:

• The company’s strong financial performance in 2025, driven by an estimated 40% increase in royalty revenue growth and an estimated 30% increase in core adjusted earnings per share growth¹
• Key royalty revenue drivers for the company in 2026 include Filspari (Travere Therapeutics), Ohtuvayre (Merck), Capvaxive (Merck), Qarziba (Recordati S.p.A.), and Zelsuvmi (Pelthos Therapeutics)
• The company’s investment activity in 2025, which included a commitment of $130 million across six investments, and robust pipeline heading into 2026
• Deployable capital of $1 billion will drive long-term royalty revenue growth through disciplined allocation
• The company’s royalty-generating technology platforms—Captisol® and NITRICIL™— that Ligand believes offer broad applicability and significant revenue growth
  
  

Financial Overview and Outlook

Today, Ligand will reiterate its 2025 guidance outlined in November:

• Total core revenue of $225 million to $235 million comprised of $147 million to $157 million in royalty revenue, $40 million in Captisol sales, and $38 million in core contract revenue
• Core adjusted earnings per diluted share of $7.40 to $7.65²

Ligand will also introduce its 2026 guidance:

• Total revenue of $245 million to $285 million, comprised of $200 million to $225 million in royalty revenue, $35 million to $40 million in Captisol sales, and $10 million to $20 million in contract revenue
• Core adjusted earnings per diluted share of $8.00 to $9.00²

Ligand will also provide an updated 5-year outlook:

• Long–term royalty receipts expected to deliver at least a 23% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
• Existing commercial programs and late-stage pipeline (“Pharm Team”) support royalty revenue CAGR of 20%
  
  

Event Webcast
The event will be broadcast live starting at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The webcast and today’s presentation can be accessed at: https://investor.ligand.com/news-and-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website after the event.

Adjusted Financial Measures

The Company reports adjusted net income from continuing operations, adjusted net income per diluted share and adjusted earnings per diluted share in addition to, not as a substitute for, and does not consider such measures superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. The Company also reports a core calculation for each of the foregoing measures which excludes any realized gain from sales of Viking Therapeutics common stock. The Company also reports core revenues and core contract revenue which excludes Covid-19 related Captisol sales in 2022 and gains associated with the sale of Pelthos to Channel Therapeutics in Q3 2025, except the Zelsuvmi out-license component, as it represents a core element of the Company's value creation strategy. Additionally, adjusted earnings per diluted share is a key component of the financial metrics utilized by the Company’s board of directors to measure, in part, management’s performance and determine significant elements of management’s compensation. The Company’s financial measures under GAAP include share-based compensation expense, amortization of debt-related costs, amortization related to acquisitions and intangible assets, changes in contingent liabilities, mark-to-market adjustments for amounts relating to its equity investments in public companies, excess tax benefit from share-based compensation, transaction costs, income tax effect of adjusted reconciling items and others that are listed in the itemized reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP adjusted financial measures included at the end of this press release. A reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP core revenue, adjusted earnings per diluted share, and core contract revenue to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is not available without unreasonable effort, as certain items cannot be reasonably predicted because of their high variability, complexity and low visibility. Specifically, non-cash adjustments that could be made for changes in contingent liabilities, changes in the market value of its investments in public companies, share-based compensation expense and the effects of any discrete income tax items, directly impact the calculations of our adjusted earnings per diluted share, which we expect to have a significant impact on our future GAAP financial results.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company enabling scientific advancement through supporting the clinical development of high-value medicines. Ligand does this by providing financing, licensing our technologies or both. Our business model seeks to generate value for stockholders by creating a diversified portfolio of biotech and pharmaceutical product revenue streams that are supported by an efficient and low corporate cost structure. Our goal is to offer investors an opportunity to participate in the promise of the biotech industry in a profitable and diversified manner. Our business model is based on funding programs in mid- to late-stage drug development in return for economic rights, purchasing royalty rights in development stage or commercial biopharmaceutical products and licensing our technology to help partners discover and develop medicines. We partner with other pharmaceutical companies to attempt to leverage what they do best (late-stage development, regulatory management and commercialization) in order to generate our revenue. We operate two infrastructure-light royalty generating technology IP platform technologies. Our Captisol® platform technology is a chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. Our NITRICIL™ platform technology facilitates tunable dosing, permitting an adjustable drug release profile to allow proprietary formulations that target a broad range of indications. We have established multiple alliances, licenses and other business relationships with the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies including Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Jazz, Gilead Sciences and Baxter International. For more information, please visit www.ligand.com. Follow Ligand on X and LinkedIn.

We use our investor relations website and X as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Investors should monitor our website and our X account, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls and webcasts.

Contacts

Investors:
Melanie Herman
investors@ligand.com
(858) 550-7761

Media:
Kellie Walsh
media@ligand.com
(914) 315-6072

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¹ Calculated using the midpoint of guidance range where applicable

² See reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP core adjusted earnings per diluted share to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in our investor day presentation

FAQ

What 2026 revenue guidance did Ligand (LGND) announce on Dec 9, 2025?

Ligand guided 2026 total revenue $245M–$285M, including royalty revenue $200M–$225M.

What 2026 core adjusted EPS did Ligand (LGND) project at Investor Day?

Ligand projected core adjusted EPS of $8.00–$9.00 for 2026.

How does Ligand (LGND) expect royalty growth over the next five years?

The company expects long-term royalty receipts to deliver at least a 23% compound annual growth rate over five years.

Which products did Ligand (LGND) cite as 2026 royalty drivers at Investor Day?

Ligand named Filspari, Ohtuvayre, Capvaxive, Qarziba, and Zelsuvmi as key 2026 royalty drivers.

How much deployable capital did Ligand (LGND) say it has to pursue royalties?

Management indicated $1 billion in deployable capital to drive long-term royalty revenue growth.

Did Ligand (LGND) change its 2025 guidance at the Dec 9, 2025 Investor Day?

No; the company reiterated its 2025 core revenue guidance of $225M–$235M and related metrics.