Q2 | Auer Growth Fund Stock of the Quarter: Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [AMPH]
Q2 2024: [AMPH] — The managers of the Auer Growth Fund screen thousands of stocks every quarter. This discipline sometimes leads us to an interesting company—with a story or history or performance—that might not be on most investors’ radar. We are NOT advocating that the stock we highlight is our best-performing stock, or that you should purchase it for YOUR portfolio. Because of mutual fund laws and disclosures, we have to be careful in discussing any of our holdings, but we do feel it’s interesting to share information on the company, for this quarter, that we find most intriguing!
The AUERX “Stock of the Quarter” for the 2nd quarter of 2024 is Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., stock symbol AMPH. This company is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and owns several proprietary drugs, as well as some generics. Its main product is a nasal spray for severe hypoglycemia and its best known branded product, Primatene Mist for asthma, has been out for a long time. The company was founded in 1996, and its recent annual sales growth has been impressive, with sales of $350 million in 2020, $437 million in 2021, $499 million in 2022, and $644 million in 2023. The company just reported their 1st quarter on May 10, 2024, and came in at $0.90 earnings per share versus $0.54 for the same quarter last year, also with 23% sales growth.
As of June 14th, statistics from Yahoo Finance show the following: the last 12 months revenue of $676 million, the company had a market value of $1.98 billion, the market close price was $40.49, the trailing 12 month price to earnings was 13.9x ($40.49 close price divided by $2.91 year earnings per share), and the dividend yield was 0%. The book value was $13.77 a share, the total long term debt was $627 million, and the total cash was $289 million.
Holdings are subject to change at any time and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The thoughts and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author. The discussion of individual companies should not be considered a recommendation of such companies by the Fund’s investment adviser. The discussion is designed to provide a reader with an understanding of how the Fund’s investment adviser manages the Fund’s portfolio.