Why Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of specialty biotech company Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (NYS: AUXL) climbed as much as 14% today after its quarterly results and guidance topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: Auxilium's first-quarter earnings rose to $7.7 million, compared to a loss of $5.1 million in the year-ago period, representing the company's first ever profitable quarter. More importantly, the company's two main drugs -- Dupuytren's contracture treatment XIAFLEX and testosterone replacement therapy Testim -- both posted a sales increase of more than 20%, giving investors plenty of optimism over its growth prospects going forward.

Now what: Management now sees full-year revenue of $310 million to $332 million, up nicely from its prior view of $293 million to $315 million. "For the remainder of 2012 and beyond, we will continue to focus on delivering excellence in commercial execution and we anticipate a positive additional impact from GlaxoSmithKline's efforts on Testim's growth," CEO Adrian Adams said. "We also look forward to filing the sBLA [supplemental biologics license application] for Xiaflex for the treatment of Peyronie's disease by the end of the year as we seek to obtain FDA approval for this indication." So while Auxilium remains just too speculative for this Fool, biotech-savvy investors might want to consider riding this recent wave of momentum.

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The article Why Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Popped originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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