Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Ligand published the results on October 29, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Ligand reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Ligand's top line is "total revenues and income", which combines royalties, Captisol material sales and contract revenue and income.
• The year-ago quarter included $53.1 million of income related to Pelthos: $24.5 million from the Zelsuvmi out-license and a $28.6 million gain on the sale of the Pelthos business. Excluding it, Ligand says total revenues and income rose 26%.
• Ligand completed its acquisition of XOMA Royalty on July 14, 2026, so Q3 2026 includes the acquired royalty assets from that date.

Source: Ligand Q3 2026 results, October 29, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Ligand splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Ligand's Royalties revenue was $70.3 million in Q3 2026, up 51% from $46.6 million in Q3 2025, 89% of total revenue.
• Ligand's Captisol revenue was $7.9 million in Q3 2026, down 26% from $10.7 million in Q3 2025, 10% of total revenue.
• Ligand's Contract revenue and income revenue was $0.5 million in Q3 2026, down 99% from $58.2 million in Q3 2025, under 1% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Ligand said:

“Ligand is raising its 2026 full year adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance and reaffirming its 2026 revenue guidance.”

“Royalty revenue of $225 million to $250 million (unchanged)”

“Total revenue of $270 million to $310 million (unchanged)”

“Adjusted earnings per diluted share 2 of approximately $9.50 to $9.75, raised from approximately $9.00 to $9.50”

Source: Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 29, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the LGND forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP total revenues and income and GAAP diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Ligand's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 29, 2026

Ligand reported total revenues and income of $78.7 million in Q3 2026, against $115.5 million a year earlier. Royalties were $70.3 million, or 89% of the total, up 51% from $46.6 million. Captisol sales were $7.9 million, against $10.7 million, which Ligand attributed to the timing of customer orders, and contract revenue and income fell to $0.5 million from $58.2 million. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

The decline in the total comes from the year-ago quarter, which included $53.1 million of Pelthos-related income: $24.5 million from the Zelsuvmi out-license and a $28.6 million gain on the sale of the Pelthos business. Ligand's core revenues and income, which exclude that gain, were $78.7 million against $86.9 million, and excluding all of the Pelthos income Ligand says total revenues and income rose 26%. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Filspari, sold by Travere Therapeutics, is Ligand's largest royalty. Ligand recognized $16.8 million of Filspari royalties in Q3 2026, against $9.1 million a year earlier, on estimated partner sales of $186.7 million at a 9.0% effective rate. Kyprolis brought in $10.5 million on estimated partner sales of $350.8 million, and Capvaxive $3.8 million. Across its intangible royalty assets, Ligand estimates partner product sales of $1,400.3 million in the quarter. (Ligand Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 30, 2026)

Income from financial royalty assets rose to $22.9 million from $6.4 million, mostly from assets that came with XOMA Royalty, which Ligand acquired on July 14, 2026: Ojemda contributed $7.0 million and Vabysmo $3.6 million. Ligand paid $782.9 million in cash for XOMA, net of cash received, and says the deal added seven commercial products and 14 late-stage development programs, taking its portfolio to over 200 royalty assets. (Ligand Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 30, 2026; Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Captisol, Ligand's modified cyclodextrin used to make drugs more soluble and stable, has enabled 17 FDA-approved products, including Gilead's Veklury and Amgen's Kyprolis. Ligand's Captisol patent portfolio has a latest expiration date in 2033. (Ligand Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 27, 2026)

Ligand posted a GAAP net loss of $28.5 million, or $1.43 per share, in Q3 2026, against net income of $117.3 million, or $5.68 per diluted share, a year earlier. The quarter included $39.5 million of pre-tax losses: a $35.7 million loss from changes in the fair value of equity-method and other investments and a $3.8 million net loss on short-term investments. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Adjusted net income was $57.5 million, or $2.67 per diluted share, against $63.8 million, or $3.09. Ligand's adjusted figures exclude share-based compensation ($29.0 million in the quarter), transaction and integration costs ($23.9 million), amortization of intangibles ($10.2 million), changes in contingent liabilities and mark-to-market moves on investments. Ligand said the decline came from the $24.5 million Zelsuvmi out-license income in the year-ago quarter and higher general and administrative expense, which rose to $72.6 million from $28.4 million. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Ligand's effective tax rate was 35.4% in the quarter, against 16.9% a year earlier. In June 2026 Ligand issued $700.0 million of 0.00% convertible senior notes due 2031, with an initial conversion price of about $334.27 per share, and repurchased $60.0 million of its stock in connection with the offering. Shares used in the per-share calculation were 19,962 thousand. (Ligand Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 30, 2026; Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Ligand gives a full-year outlook in its release. With Q3 2026 it raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to approximately $9.50 to $9.75, from $9.00 to $9.50, and kept its revenue ranges: royalty revenue of $225 million to $250 million, Captisol sales of $35 million to $40 million, contract revenue of $10 million to $20 million and total revenue of $270 million to $310 million. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

For the first nine months of 2026, Ligand reported royalty revenue of $161.3 million, 83% of total revenues and income of $194.2 million, and adjusted EPS of $6.67. Ligand said it would give an updated five-year outlook at an investor day on December 8. (Ligand Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Ligand, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Ligand's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning LGND is on is LGND a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the LGND forecast, and what the company does is on the Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Ligand published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.