Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) Surprises With Q1 CY2026 Sales

Biotech company Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 1.9% year on year to $2.48 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.57 per share was 20.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Founded in 1978 and pioneering treatments for some of medicine's most complex challenges, Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) develops and markets therapies for neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, spinal muscular atrophy, and rare diseases.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, Biogen’s demand was weak and its revenue declined by 4.6% per year. This wasn’t a great result and suggests it’s a lower quality business.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within healthcare, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Biogen’s annualized revenue growth of 2.4% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, which is encouraging.

This quarter, Biogen reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 1.9% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 11.2%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 1% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection is underwhelming and indicates its products and services will face some demand challenges.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Adjusted operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies because it excludes non-recurring expenses, interest on debt, and taxes.

Biogen has been an efficient company over the last five years. It was one of the more profitable businesses in the healthcare sector, boasting an average adjusted operating margin of 29.5%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Biogen’s adjusted operating margin decreased by 4.4 percentage points over the last five years. The company’s two-year trajectory also shows it failed to get its profitability back to the peak as its margin fell by 1.8 percentage points. This performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows its expenses were rising and it couldn’t pass those costs onto its customers.

In Q1, Biogen generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 15.2%, down 8.7 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses grew faster than its revenue.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Sadly for Biogen, its EPS declined by 11.4% annually over the last five years, more than its revenue. This tells us the company struggled because its fixed cost base made it difficult to adjust to shrinking demand.

We can take a deeper look into Biogen’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Biogen’s adjusted operating margin declined by 4.4 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

In Q1, Biogen reported adjusted EPS of $3.57, up from $3.02 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. We also like to analyze expected EPS growth based on Wall Street analysts’ consensus projections, but there is insufficient data.

Key Takeaways from Biogen’s Q1 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Biogen blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its full-year EPS guidance missed. Overall, this print had some key positives despite the disappointing outlook. The stock traded up 2.4% to $187.76 immediately after reporting.

Indeed, Biogen had a rock-solid quarterly earnings result, but is this stock a good investment here? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).