Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc (IRWD)
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Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IRWD) looks optically cheap: a trailing price-to-earnings ratio around 7, up roughly 480 percent from its low, a scanner that fires 14 times. But the one bright number dazzles. We read five SEC filings: substantially all revenue hangs on a single product (LINZESS, for irritable bowel syndrome), and the generics for it may launch as early as March 2029. Add a $385 million debt wall from the VectivBio acquisition, negative equity of $262 million — and a billion-dollar bet (apraglutide) the FDA just pushed back by an entire extra trial. Not investment advice — a sober look at why a narrow window of time hides behind the cheap price tag.
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Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralGeprüft am 10.07.2026 gegen den Geschäftsbericht (10-K) Geschäftsjahr 2025 (eingereicht 26.02.2026) und den Quartalsbericht (10-Q) Q1 2026 (eingereicht 07.05.2026): In den ausgewerteten SEC-Filings von Ironwood Pharmaceuticals findet sich kein wesentlicher KI-Bezug. Weder Item 1 (Business) noch Item 1A (Risk Factors) noch die MD&A erwähnen künstliche Intelligenz oder maschinelles Lernen — es gibt keine KI-Produkt- oder -Umsatzquelle (verkauft), keinen dokumentierten operativen KI-Einsatz in Forschung oder Betrieb (nutzt) und kein konkretes KI-Geschäftsrisiko fürs eigene Modell (bedroht). Ironwood ist ein klassisches Biopharma-Geschäft rund um das Magen-Darm-Medikament LINZESS/Linaclotide (US-Vermarktung mit AbbVie) und den Kurzdarm-Wirkstoff Apraglutide (Phase III, STARS-2). Nach dem Kriterienkatalog bleibt es damit bei ‚neutral‘ (dokumentierter Negativ-Befund; die geprüften Filings enthalten keine belastbaren KI-Treffer).
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-26 · 10-Q 2026-05-07 · 10-Q 2025-11-10 · 10-Q 2025-08-11 · 10-K 2025-03-31
Rated on July 10, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.01 | – | 91 | -23.00 | 2.50 | 15 | 15 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.23 | – | 41 | -45.10 | -90.90 | 20 | 20 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.15 | – | 85 | -9.70 | 27.70 | -15 | -15 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.23 | 890.90 | 122 | 33.30 | 32.80 | 48 | 48 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.01 | -191.00 | 48 | -47.30 | -4.80 | 75 | 75 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.24 | – | 107 | 158.90 | 38.30 | 5 | 5 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Real and ongoing: net income of $24.0 million (2025), $40.8 million in the first quarter of 2026, operating cash flow of $127.0 million (2025), cash of $220.5 million (Q1 2026). A capital-light toll model on an established drug that throws off decent cash and is used to pay down debt.
Per the annual report (10-K), LINZESS accounts for "substantially all" revenue (97.7 percent from the U.S.). For this one product, generics may enter the market as early as March 2029 — a hard, dated end of the only meaningful revenue source, with no load-bearing second leg so far.
A debt wall from the VectivBio acquisition: a $385.0 million revolver due December 31, 2028 — only weeks before the generic cliff. Equity is negative (minus $261.8 million), the accumulated deficit roughly $1.7 billion, no balance-sheet buffer. On the plus side: interest covered roughly three times, and the $200 million convertible notes were repaid on schedule in June 2026.
The roughly $1.1 billion purchase price was expensed immediately in 2023 (no further impairment risk), but the countervalue is still open: the FDA requires a confirmatory Phase III trial (STARS-2), starting from Q2 2026. A binary pipeline risk — success creates a second leg, failure leaves the billion-dollar bet without a payoff.
Optically cheap (trailing P/E around 7, price-to-cash-flow around 6), but including debt an enterprise value of roughly $1.0 billion (~8× operating cash flow). Revenue is shrinking ($442.7 million to $296.2 million in two years). Activist Sarissa Capital (Dr. Alexander Denner, board member since 2020) holds roughly 5.6 percent — a possible catalyst, but no guarantee.
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals looks optically cheap — a trailing price-to-earnings ratio around 7, up roughly 480 percent from the low, 14 hits in our in-house stock scanner. But the one bright number dazzles. Substantially all revenue hangs on a single product (LINZESS, for irritable bowel syndrome), and generics for it may enter the market from March 2029. Add a debt wall from the $1 billion VectivBio acquisition (a $385 million revolver due at the end of 2028, only weeks before the cliff), negative equity of $261.8 million — and a bet on the future (apraglutide) that the FDA has pushed back by an entire extra trial. The ongoing earnings power ($127 million of operating cash flow) is real, but it stands on a narrow window of time. Not investment advice.
- Materiality gate (finding by finding): (1) single-product dependence + patent cliff — LINZESS is "substantially all" of revenue, generics as early as March 2029; trigger case = erosion of the only revenue source from 2029. A structural finding with heavy weight (touches nearly all revenue) but roughly three years of lead time. (2) VectivBio debt + negative equity — $385 million revolver due 12/31/2028, net debt ~$365 million, equity minus $261.8 million; trigger case = forced refinancing right ahead of the cliff, covenant risk if EBITDA falls. A structural finding, weighted as existence-adjacent because of the timing collision with the cliff, but currently no going concern (interest covered ~3×, $127 million operating cash flow). (3) Apraglutide — binary pipeline risk; purchase price already expensed (no further balance-sheet damage), but no payoff without approval. A structural finding. No acute existential finding (profitable, cash-generative, no going-concern warning), but several clustered, heavy structural findings that bunch into a narrow 2028–2029 window and stand on negative equity → classification "vorsicht" (caution) as a descriptive editorial finding, not "halten"/"beobachten" (hold/watch — that would play down the cluster of structural risks) and not sell (the ongoing earnings power is too real for that).
- Valuation metrics are orders of magnitude as of mid-2026 (trailing P/E ~7, price-to-cash-flow ~6, enterprise value ~$1.0 billion or ~8× operating cash flow, market value ~$0.6 billion). Reported earnings swing hard: net income of $24.0 million (2025), but $40.8 million in Q1 2026 alone. Annual figures refer to fiscal year 2025 (as of 12/31/2025), quarterly figures to Q1 2026 (as of 03/31/2026). Analyses are evergreen; daily prices are not a buy argument.
- Revenue, earnings, cash-flow, debt and concentration series come from the annual report (10-K) 2025, the 10-K 2024 and the quarterly report (10-Q) Q1 2026. The VectivBio acquisition (June 2023, roughly $1 billion) was treated as an asset acquisition: roughly $1.1 billion was expensed immediately as in-process R&D in 2023 (operating loss $945.4 million, net loss roughly $1.03 billion) — hence no goodwill/large intangibles on the balance sheet and no future impairment risk. Special-situations screening: activist investor Sarissa Capital (Schedule 13D since 2019, board seat Dr. Alexander Denner since 2020, 5.6%); further 5-percent holders Vanguard (9.8%), Armistice (9.7%), Bank of America (7.3%), BlackRock (6.9%). No rights plan, no formal strategic review, no takeover announced. EDGAR re-checked on July 17, 2026: no new material filings since the research cut-off.
- AI dossier: category "neutral" (rated July 10, 2026) — the evaluated SEC filings (10-K 2025 and 10-Q) contain no material AI angle: no AI revenue source, no documented operational AI use, no concrete AI business risk to its own model. Ironwood is a classic GI/rare-disease pharma business built around LINZESS and apraglutide.
About the Company
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ein Biotechnologieunternehmen, konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung und Vermarktung von Therapien für gastrointestinale (GI) und seltene Erkrankungen in den USA und international.
| Employees | 100 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Boston, MA |
| Website | ironwoodpharma.com |
| IPO Date | 3. Feb 2010 |
| Next Earnings | 6. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas A. McCourt | CEO & Director | 1957 |
| Tammi Gaskins | Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer. | 1973 |
| Ronald Silver | Senior VP, Interim CFO, Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer | 1982 |
| Rosario Lobrutto M.B.A., M.S., Ph.D. | VP & Global Head of Technical Operations | – |
| Jeff Ruberti | Interim Head of Investor Relations & Communications and Chief Strategy Officer | – |
| John Minardo | Senior VP, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary | 1976 |
| Michael Shetzline M.D., Ph.D. | Chief Medical Officer, Senior VP and Head of Research & Drug Development | 1959 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 20, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.