CEPH beats Street, ups guidance

Cephalon (CEPH) reported third quarter EPS of $0.40, eclipsing by $0.34 the Street consensus of $0.06. CEPH attributed the large gap between actual and estimated EPS to strong growth in its narcolepsy drug Provigil modafinil. The company said sales of Provigil, which were $53.7 million in the third quarter, were driven by 4 factors: an 87% increase in prescriptions compared to the third quarter of last year; stocking by a retail pharmacy chain; restocking inventories, which were low in the previous quarter, by wholesalers; and speculative buying by wholesalers to front run an expected price increase (which did not occur). ...