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Confused about KMPH Stock and ZVRA Stock? Still wondering what happened to the KMPH ticker and want to learn more about KemPharm?

This article dived deep into understanding what happened to KMPH Stock and why they are not available anymore. It will enlighten you about the latest updates about KemPharm, Zevra Therapeutics, and the details of ZVRA Stock and its price forecast.

Key Takeaways:


Why is KMPH Stock Not Available for Trading?

The specialty pharmaceutical company producing different proprietary prodrugs, KemPharm, Inc., and its ticker (NASDAQ: KMPH) is not available for trading because they have renamed their company Zevra Therapeutics. The new ticker for trading is NASDAQ: ZVRA.

According to a press release published in BioSpace, KemPharm changed its company name from KemPharm, Inc. to Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. on Feb 22, 2023.

The company’s CEO, Richard W. Pascoe, further announced that the new name reflects the company’s dedicated focus on transformational therapies for rare diseases with limited or no treatment options.

The name Zevra which is Greek for Zebra was chosen as it is widely recognized as the symbol of the rare disease community and would also help them to build a brand identity as a leader in the space.

Even the KemPharm Company Website leads to a landing page that says, “KemPharm is now Zevra Therapeutics.”

A button “Visit Zevra” leads to Zevra’s website and a message with a reducing timer of 15 seconds saying that it will automatically lead to Zevra’s website when the 15 seconds are up.

KemPharm (NASDAQ: KMPH): Company Details

KemPharm was a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on serious diseases  and medical conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, pain, and other central nervous system disorders.

KemPharm Company Profile

Company Name

KemPharm Inc.

Ticker Name

NASDAQ: KMPH (Now Changed)

Year Founded

2006

Industry

Pharmaceuticals

Headquarters

Celebration, Florida, USA

Founders

Christal M. M. Mickle and Travis C. Mickle

Beginning in 2001, Dr. Travis Mickle, with a team of scientists, invented a first-of-its-kind prodrug called Vyvanse that focused on the issues arising from treatments of ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder available at the time.

Dr. Mickle was the team leader, and it took them three years (2004) to develop the prodrug.

With years of experience, Dr. Mickle finally co-founded a company called KemPharm, developing specialized prodrugs along with Christal Mickle.

They developed two commercial products with the help of its proprietary platform technology, Ligand Activated Therapy.

They developed the prodrug Azstarys, which FDA approved in March 2021. Corium, the product’s marketer, launched Azstarys in the US in the third quarter of 2021.

Additionally, in May 2022, KemPharm, acquired arimoclomol, an investigational product candidate treating Niemann-Pick type C disease, from Orphazyme A/S. The product is delivered orally.

Niemann-Pick type C is a rare disease that mostly affects children and can often turn fatal. There are no approved treatments for it in the USA at the moment.

KemPharm is focused on its long-term approach to progress into a commercially driven rare disease therapeutics company.

The then executive Chairman of KemPharm, Richard Pascoe, stated that the arimoclomol acquisition would enable them to expand their CNS disease development pipeline significantly.

He further said that this would help KemPharm build commercial capabilities that would help create and retain value for its shareholders.

He also mentioned that acquiring arimoclomol from an early access program would help the company generate positive cash flow and would not involve any shareholder dilution.

Zevra Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ZVRA): Company Details

As we have seen, KemPharm was looking to become a company with the expertise of a rare disease therapeutic company. After gathering years of experience developing elegant prodrugs, the KemPharm team focused on getting product candidates for treating rare diseases.

KP1077 was the company’s internally developed clinical-stage candidate for rare diseases. It was developed to treat a rare sleep order called Idiopathic Hypersomnia or IH.

In May 2022, KemPharm finally acquired all the substantial assets of Orphazyme, A/S, a Denmark-based company that developed a product candidate called arimoclomol for treating Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC).

Many team members were also internalized into KemPharm, which would help build a very experienced and robust team and help in their expansion and development capacity.

Finally, in February 2023, KemPharm was renamed Zevra Therapeutics.

 

A Depiction of KMPH Stock's Renaming as ZVRA Stock


Zevra’s Company Profile

Company Name

Zevra Therapeutics, Inc.

Ticker name

NASDAQ: ZVRA

Headquarters

Celebration, Florida, USA

Industry

Pharmaceuticals

CEO

Richard W. Pascoe

Number of Employees

36

Market Cap

$167.176 million

Revenue

$10.46 million

Company website

zevra.com


Zevra’s Product Development Strategy

Compared to most drug development companies, Zevra doesn’t follow the one-track path to develop the drugs, as this approach can minimize access to people who need therapeutics for rare diseases.

Zevra, on the contrary, pushes hard and takes a flexible approach to developing drugs. Their experience with successfully overcoming regulatory challenges and the technical know-how about developing therapeutic drugs help them to develop the drugs faster.

Most importantly, they don’t follow the archaic process of fitting the data in a pre-determined narrative as part of the product development process but analyze the data and then assess the best approach based on the data.

Zevra's Statistics and ZVRA Stock Performance

Let us now look at some important statistics of Zevra as reported by Yahoo Finance.

 

Income Statement

Revenue (ttm)

10.46M

Revenue Per Share (ttm)

0.30

Quarterly Revenue Growth (yoy)

-10.20%

Gross Profit (ttm)

10.12M

EBITDA

-23.9M

Net Income Avi to Common (ttm)

-41.54M

Diluted EPS (ttm)

-0.9400

Quarterly Earnings Growth (yoy)

N/A


Balance Sheet

Total Cash (mrq)

82.85M

Total Cash Per Share (mrq)

2.4

Total Debt (mrq)

18.78M

Total Debt/Equity (mrq)

21.89

Current Ratio (mrq)

7.93

Book Value Per Share (mrq)

2.48

Cash Flow Statement

Operating Cash Flow (ttm)

-18.72M

Levered Free Cash Flow (ttm)

-15.11M

Legend: mrq = Most Recent Quarter ttm = Trailing Twelve Months yoy = Year Over Year

We can see from the income statement that the revenue for Zevra for the last fiscal year has been $10.46 million, while the revenue growth has been negative at -10.20%.

Although the Gross profit, i.e., Revenue minus C.O.G.S. (Cost of Goods Sold), is $10.12 million, the EBITDA or Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization is -$23.9 million, which indicates operational challenges.

The Total Debt to Equity ratio is also high at 21.89, which indicates the liabilities are quite high and the current revenue is not enough to mitigate them.

However, it should be remembered that they are an advanced pharmaceutical firm focused on research and development. Many of their products are in clinical trials and have not been commercially released.

Once approved, they will come into the market and increase the revenue opportunities for the firm. They are focused on developing prodrugs and creating value for their shareholders.

Although ZVRA is unprofitable, it has reduced losses over the past five years at a rate of 5.1% per year.


Let us now look at some trading information.

 

Stock Price History

52-Week Change

-11.96%

S&P500 52-Week Change

-11.27%

52 Week High

6.9200

52 Week Low

4.0000

50-Day Moving Average

5.2932

200-Day Moving Average

5.2587


Share Statistics

Avg Vol (3 month)

228.7k

Avg Vol (10 day)

360.36k

Shares Outstanding

34.54M

Implied Shares Outstanding

N/A

Float

31.28M

% Held by Insiders

10.28%

% Held by Institutions

17.69%

Shares Short (Feb 14, 2023)

1.37M

Short Ratio (Feb 14, 2023)

6.86

Short % of Float (Feb 14, 2023)

4.00%

Short % of Shares Outstanding (Feb 14, 2023)

3.98%

Shares Short (prior month Jan 12, 2023)

1.37M

Compared to many stocks in the stock market, ZVRA’s common stocks’ drop is not as significant as others and stands at 11.96%. Their 52-week high was $6.92, and their low was $4.
At the time of writing, it is currently trading at $4.79
The quarterly volume is 228,7000, and the number of outstanding shares is 34.54 million.

The Details of the Holders of Zevra are as follows:

10.28%

% of Shares Held by All Insider

17.69%

% of Shares Held by Institutions

19.72%

% of Float Held by Institutions

99

Number of Institutions Holding Zevra Shares

 

Some of the top Holders in the company are as follows:

Top Institutional Holders

HolderSharesDate Reported% OutValue
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)1,402,193Dec 30, 202232.50%6,688,460
Blackrock Inc.602,691Dec 30, 202213.97%2,874,836
Laurion Capital Management, LP571,200Dec 30, 202213.24%2,724,623
Janney Montgomery Scott LLC494,030Dec 30, 202211.45%2,356,523
HealthInvest Partners AB330,000Dec 30, 20227.65%1,574,099
Geode Capital Management, LLC309,842Dec 30, 20227.18%1,477,946
Retirement Planning Co of New England, Inc.297,384Dec 30, 20226.89%1,418,521
Mystic Asset Management, Inc.175,883Dec 30, 20224.08%838,961
Susquehanna International Group, LLP170,014Dec 30, 20223.94%810,966
Bank Of New York Mellon Corporation114,626Dec 30, 20222.66%546,766

ZVRA Stock Forecast:

ZVRA Stock Analysis: Tradingview

 

ZVRA Forecast Graph by Tradingview
Source: Screenshot from tradingview.com

According to Tradingview, four analysts have analyzed the ZVRA stock and have forecasted that ZVRA stock price may reach $18.50 in a year, i.e., a growth of almost 287%. The maximum price is estimated at $23, and the minimum at $12.

ZVRA Stock Buy Sell Signal Indicator by Tradingview Analysts
Source: Screenshot from tradingview.com

At the time of writing, based on the analysis of the past three months, the analysts have given a Strong Buy Signal.

ZVRA Revenue Projection by Tradingview
Source: Screenshot from tradingview.com

According to the analysts, ZVRA will see healthy growth and generate a revenue of $15.81 million in 2023, reaching $67.31 million and $108.8 million by 2025 and 2026, respectively.

ZVRA Forecast: Simply Wall ST

Let us look at some of the points made by Simply Wall ST

  • Earnings have grown 5.1% in the last five years and are forecasted to grow at 64.39% per year.
  • ZVRA Shareholder returns (-10.3%) are worse than US Pharmaceuticals Industry which returned -6.2%.
  • It has performed as compared to the US Market, which returned -13.7%.
  • Shares of ZVRA have been stable over the past year.

ZVRA Price to Share or PS Ratio

The Price to Share Ratio is calculated by dividing the share price by the company’s annual Revenue per Share. The PS Ratio of ZVRA stock is 15.9x

ZVRA Stock Price to Share Ratio vs Peers Graph by SimplyWallStreet
Source: Screenshot from simplywall.st

Based on the analysis, the analysts have deduced that ZVRA(15.9x) is much more expensive than its Peers, where the average is 2x.

ZVRA Stock Price to Share Ratio vs Industry Graph by SimplyWallStreet
Source: Screenshot from simplywall.st

Based on the analysis, the analysts have concluded that ZVRA(15.9x) is much more expensive than the US Pharmaceutical Industry, which averages 3.1x.

ZVRA Stock Fair Value Graph by SimplyWallStreet
Source: Screenshot from simplywall.st

According to Simply Wall ST, the ZVRA share price ($4.79) currently trades at a discount of almost 78% from its fair value of $21.42.

ZVRA Stock Forecast Graph by SimplyWallStreet
Source: Screenshot from simplywall.st

According to the analysts at Simply Wall ST, the price forecast for the next 12 months is around $18.

ZVRA Stock Annual Future Growth Forecast by SimplyWallStreet
Source: Screenshot from simplywall.st
  • Earnings vs. Savings Rate: According to the analysts, ZVRA is on track to become profitable in the coming three years. It is considered a faster growth than the savings rate of 2.1%.
  • Earnings vs. Market: According to the analysts, ZVRA will become profitable in the next three years, again above the market’s average growth.
  • High Growth Earnings: According to the data of the High Growth Earnings also, ZVRA is looking to become profitable in three years.
  • Revenue vs. Market: ZVRA is forecasted to grow its revenue at 39.5% per year, significantly faster than the market average of 7% per year.
  • High Growth Revenue: As ZVRA’s revenue is slated to grow at 39.5% per year, it is considered higher than the market standard. On average, a high growth rate in the market is 20%.

FAQs:

The most frequently asked questions are as follows:

ZVRA, the new ticker symbol of KMPH(KemPharm) after it changed its name to Zevra Therapeutics, is considered a good buy for many analysts from different firms. At the time of writing, it trades at $4.79 and is expected to grow at least 39.9% in the next three years. It is forecasted to reach $18 in a year.

KemPharm stock KMPH, now known as ZVRA, has a price target of approximately $18, with a maximum estimated high of $23 to a low of $12 in a year.

Yes, KemPharm or Zevra Therapeutics (name changed) is currently in the development phase of a couple of prodrugs and is projected to do very well by analysts across the industry. Hence, it is a good buy as the company is projected to grow at 39.9% in the next three years.

To Conclude

KemPharm (KMPH Stock) had the vision to use their experience developing drugs and the technical knowledge of the regulations to transition to a company developing therapeutic drugs for rare diseases for which the treatment is non-existential.

Not only will they be able to help those in need, but this will also give them an edge and become a market leader in this pharmaceutical industry segment. It will also greatly help them to create value for its shareholders.

The company is on the right track, and if it gets approval for the drugs, then the sky is the limit for Zevra Therapeutics.


Disclaimer: All the information presented in the article has been collected independently by BitMoneyAlpha and has not been reviewed or approved by KemPharm or Zevra. The product information may vary. Please check the company website for the latest information. The statements and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any company or organization. The content is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice. So, before investing, do your due diligence and always invest what you are comfortable losing, as all investments are your responsibility.

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