-=Puma Biotechnology (PBYI) reported earnings on Thur 1 March 2018 (a/h)

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Puma Biotechnology Inc. (PBYI) on Thursday reported a loss of $64.1 million in its fourth quarter.

The Los Angeles-based company said it had a loss of $1.71 per share. Losses, adjusted for stock option expense, were $1.03 per share.

For the fourth quarter, sales of Puma's breast cancer drug Nerlynx were $20.1 million in the U.S., just short of the consensus for $20.8 million, Leerink's Schmidt said. But Puma pre-announced $11.6 million in January net sales, indicating the consensus view for $31.7 million in the first quarter could be too low.

"We expect this to be a clearing event similar to the recent Clovis Oncology (CLVS) fourth-quarter earnings report," he said in a note. "Fundamentally, Nerlynx U.S. launch metrics look solid."

On the call, Puma guided to 2018 sales of $175 million to $200 million in the U.S. Consensus figures are between $184 million and $204 million, RBC analyst Kennen MacKay said in a report. Leerink's Schmidt sees the outlook as conservative.

Puma could also have some good news around midyear. The firm is expected to have data from a Phase 3 study of Nerlynx in an advanced form of breast cancer. Further, European officials are reconsidering Nerlynx in another form of breast cancer.