Aurinia Pharma gains after CEO comments on sales outlook
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Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUPH
+4.4%) is trading higher after its Chief Executive Officer Peter Greenleaf hinted at strong sales for the company as the management prepares to release the financials for Q4 2021 at the end of February. 
Canada-based Aurinia (NASDAQ:AUPH) markets LUPKYNIS, an FDA-approved treatment for adult patients with active lupus nephritis.
Speaking at the Annual Leerink SVB Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, Greenleaf noted that "aggressive numbers will come from us," a comment picked by social media and later drove Aurinia (AUPH) shares higher in the morning hours.
He was answering a question on the year-over-year sales trajectory as the company expects to release its Q4 and full-year financials for 2021 on Feb. 28 before the market opens.
âWe want to come and show numbers that we think we can achieve, but at the same time that Iâm sure we have a lot of ambition as to how we want to grow the business,â Greenleaf concluded.
During the first nine months of the year, Aurinia (AUPH) recorded $22.2M in revenue, up from $88K revenue in the prior-year period. The companyâs topline mainly consists of LUPKYNIS sales after the FDA cleared the oral therapy in Jan. 2021.
At the time of the previous earnings release, Aurinia (AUPH) maintained its prior revenue estimate in the range of $40M to $50M.
The current consensus revenue estimates for the company stand at $44.2M after one upward revision and two downward revisions on Wall Street over the past three months.
A common subject of M&A chatter, Aurinia (AUPH) shares gained after the company was included in a list of targets suggested by Goldman Sachs to Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) as potential candidates for acquisitions.