Lifecore Biomedical poised for growth, signs late-stage GLP-1 candidate: analysts
Minnesota-based contract development and manufacturing organization Lifecore Biomedical announced revenue of $128.9 million in fiscal 2025, continuing to make progress as it targets up to $300 million in revenue annually, according to analysts.
William Blair analyst Max Smock in an Aug. 7 note to investors said that Lifecore’s business wins are laying the “foundation for growth acceleration” by making “notable headway” on serving both existing customers and winning new projects.
“We are encouraged by not only the quantity of its new projects wins, but also by a seeming improvement in quality of adds, as exemplified by the company’s announcement after the end of the quarter that it signed an agreement for a late-stage GLP-1 candidate that could reach approval by the end of decade,” Smock wrote.
Last year, Lifecore installed a high-speed, GMP-ready 5-head isolator filler — designed for fill-finish activities for vials, cartridges, and pre-filled syringes — that more than doubled the CDMO’s sterile injectable production capacity. Of Lifecore’s total $300 million of annual revenue-generating capacity, Smock estimates that between $250 million and $260 million is related to the company’s fill-finish activities.
As Smock has previously stated, Lifecore’s fill-finish capacity and 5-head isolator filler “put the company in great position to capitalize on several notable industry tailwinds” including the shift toward injectables, increased demand for U.S. manufacturing capacity due to tariffs, and — to a lesser extent — Novo Nordisk’s recent acquisition of Catalent.
In its Q2 2025 investor letter last month, investment management company Laughing Water Capital wrote “considering that building and certifying new fill-finish capacity can take 4 or 5 years, it seems that it would be much easier to partner with a company like Lifecore.”
Laughing Water Capital said the “fill-finish CDMO” continues to work toward dual goals of increasing capacity utilization and expanding margins. While the investment firm acknowledged the sales cycle is slow, it said “all indications are that the pipeline is active, and major international pharma and biotech companies have been conducting diligence on Lifecore’s facilities.”
Smock in his Aug. 7 note said he came away from last week’s financial update from Lifecore “optimistic” about the company’s expected top- and bottom-line growth inflection point in calendar 2027, as well as the CDMO’s ability to hit its midterm targets of a 12% revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin exceeding 25% over the mid-term.
Barrington Research analyst Michael Petusky in an Aug. 8 note to investors sounded a similarly positive outlook for Lifecore, reporting that the company now has 11 late-stage projects that all have commercial approval potential within the next few years.
When it comes to tariffs, Petusky wrote that “while Lifecore is not relying on the tariffs (including the potential for the onshoring of drug manufacturing) to drive growth, management suggested that such a backdrop provides a favorable tailwind to the value proposition it is already communicating.”
Lifecore CEO Paul Josephs told analysts during the Aug. 7 earnings call that the company is “strongly positioned to maximize on the opportunity” and that leveraging the CDMO is the “most economical and efficient way to onshore manufacturing demand.”
