By Kwanwoo Jun


Celltrion shares rallied Friday after the South Korean biosimilar maker secured a new U.S. contract and forecast a quarterly earnings beat.

The stock jumped as much as 13% to 204,500 won in afternoon trading in Seoul, on track for its steepest gain in two years and outperformed the Kospi, which rose about 2%.

Earlier in the day, Celltrion said it had secured a $473 million contract manufacturing organization deal from Eli Lilly. The four-year CMO contract came as the South Korean company completed its acquisition of a U.S. facility from the American pharmaceutical firm.

Celltrion said in September that it purchased an Eli Lilly biologics facility in Branchburg, N.J., for 460 billion won, equivalent to $318.8 million, as part of a roughly $1 billion investment plan to acquire and expand the site to reduce U.S. tariff risks.

In a preliminary earnings forecast issued earlier this week, Celltrion said it expects operating profit to more than double from a year earlier to a quarterly record of 472 billion won for the October-December period. That estimate would exceed the FactSet-compiled consensus forecast of 408 billion won.

The company also said it expects revenue to rise 21% from a year earlier to a record 1.284 trillion won in the fourth quarter, lifting annual revenue above 4 trillion won.

Nomura analyst Cindy Park said Friday that Celltrion's 2026 revenue target of 5.3 trillion won supports a positive outlook, citing the company's plan to scale up its contract development and manufacturing organization business using the U.S. plant acquired from Eli Lilly.

In 2025, Celltrion launched five new biosimilars that Nomura estimates will begin contributing to revenue from 2026. The company currently has 11 biosimilars in its portfolio and is actively expanding product formulations, Park noted.

Analysts H.J. Wi and Dayong Lee of Korea Investment & Securities said Friday that they expect Celltrion's revenue and operating profit to grow 27% and 44%, respectively, in 2026, with the U.S. CMO business likely to accelerate revenue growth and improve operating margins. They raised their target price to 240,000 won from 220,000 won and maintained a buy rating.


Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-02-26 0131ET