LGND
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
LGND's fundamentals are strong: it turned 36% of its revenue into free cash flow and free cash flow more than doubled. Its PE of 125x looks cheaper than it really is, because one-off gains boosted its recent earnings. Its downside scenario is more than ten times its upside.
LGND Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Under pressure | |
| Stable | |
| Strong | |
| Weak |
LGND's cash flow is currently strong, and its profitability is stable, but its revenue and balance sheet are under pressure.
LGND PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 25x | $62.36 | -80% |
| Forward | 29x | $316 | — |
| Fair | 42x | $106 | -67% |
| Expensive | 67x | $170 | -46% |
| Current | 125x | $316 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
LGND's PE is in its expensive range at 125x, but its recent earnings include one-off gains. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 29x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
LGND Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for LGND, with profitability improving.
LGND Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $10.94 | +331% |
| Q3 2026 | $2.54 | +26% |
| Q2 2026 | $9.65 | +$13.71 |
| Q1 2026 | $7.67 | +$14.85 |
| Q4 2025 | $6.13 | +$6.35 |
| Q3 2025 | $2.01 | -21% |
| Q2 2025 | -$4.06 | -273% |
| Q1 2025 | -$7.18 | -234% |
| Q4 2024 | -$0.22 | -107% |
LGND's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $2.54 over the past year, against $29.34 in late 2019. Its recent earnings include one-off gains.
LGND Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $78.7M | -32% |
| Q2 2026 | $63.7M | +34% |
| Q1 2026 | $51.7M | +14% |
| Q4 2025 | $59.7M | +39% |
| Q3 2025 | $115.5M | +123% |
| Q2 2025 | $47.6M | +15% |
| Q1 2025 | $45.3M | +46% |
| Q4 2024 | $42.8M | +52% |
LGND's revenue fell from its 2025 peak and has held roughly level since: $79M last quarter, down 32% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -20% | -68 points |
| Q2 2026 | 13% | -4.2 points |
| Q1 2026 | 34% | +114 points |
| Q4 2025 | 23% | +46 points |
| Q3 2025 | 48% | +42 points |
| Q2 2025 | 18% | +64 points |
| Q1 2025 | -80% | -90 points |
| Q4 2024 | -23% | -11 points |
LGND's operating margin was −20% last quarter, down 68 points from the same quarter a year ago.
LGND Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$27.7M | -312% |
| Q2 2026 | $24M | +54% |
| Q1 2026 | $48.5M | +$74.1M |
| Q4 2025 | $45.9M | +65% |
| Q3 2025 | $13.1M | -64% |
| Q2 2025 | $15.6M | +21% |
| Q1 2025 | -$25.7M | -238% |
| Q4 2024 | $27.8M | +263% |
LGND usually generates cash, though not every quarter: the latest was −$28M, but it generated $91M over the past year.
LGND Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -8.6% | -1.9M shares |
| 1 year | -3.2% | -667K shares |
| 3 years | +15% | +2.6M shares |
| 5 years | +16% | +2.8M shares |
| Available history | +16% | +2.7M shares |
LGND has 20M diluted shares, down 3.2% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | — |
| Q4 2025 | — |
| Q4 2021 | — |
| Q3 2021 | — |
| Q2 2021 | — |
| Q1 2021 | — |
| Q4 2020 | $4.7M |
| Q3 2020 | — |
LGND Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 18.2x | High |
| Q2 2026 | 0.9x | Very low |
| Q1 2026 | -0.9x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | -2.3x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2025 | -2.7x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2025 | -104.6x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | -5.7x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2024 | -3.3x | Net Cash |
LGND's net debt is about 18 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), after holding more cash than debt a year ago.
LGND Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 64.7 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 80.9 | Overbought |
LGND's weekly RSI is 65 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 81 (overbought).
LGND PE vs Healthcare Sector
| Metric | LGND | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 125x | 26x | 382% above |
| PE % | 100 | 29 | 71 pts above |
LGND is trading at 125x earnings, a 382% premium to the Healthcare sector's median of 26x, though its recent earnings include one-off gains.
LGND Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $306.3 | 3.2% above |
| 20 week MA | $299.3 | 5.7% above |
| 50 week MA | $247.3 | 28% above |
| 100 week MA | $191.1 | 66% above |
| 200 week MA | $135.3 | 134% above |
LGND is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 134% above its 200-week average.
LGND Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $66.7 | $66.2 | -0.8% |
| 2021 | $66.2 | $100.6 | +52% |
| 2022 | $100.6 | $67.3 | -33% |
| 2023 | $67.3 | $71.4 | +6.1% |
| 2024 | $71.4 | $109.2 | +53% |
| 2025 | $109.2 | $195.8 | +79% |
| 2026 YTD | $195.8 | $316.3 | +62% |
LGND has finished higher in four of the last six years, three of them by more than 50%. It's up 62% so far in 2026.