It's largely been a tough year for ASX healthcare stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index (ASX:XHJ) has fallen more than 16% year to date.
However one ASX healthcare stock that broker Bell Potter believes is set to rebound is Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: CUV).
The company is an Australian-based global biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for the treatment of genetic and vascular disorders.
What's going on with this ASX healthcare stock price?
The Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals share price has fallen more than 18% over the last month.
This included a single day drop of 16%. This came following the release of its full-year financial results for the 12 months to 30 June (FY 2025).
In the report, Clinuvel revealed a 10% year-on-year revenue growth to $105.3 million from sales of its SCENESSE product.
SCENESSE is the company's principal product. It is used to treat erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) patients, primarily in Europe and the United States.
However, the company also reported a 20% increase in expenses to $53.7 million while net profit after tax (NPAT) grew just 2%.
What did Bell Potter have to say?
Bell Potter released a report following the results, and said the reported revenue of $95.0m (+8% yoy) was 2% below its forecast.
Additionally, operating expenses were above the forecast, which was attributed to R&D investment increases.
Finally, the broker also said both EBITDA and NPAT came in below its forecast.
However it wasn't all negative.
EBITDA margin remains impressive at 46% albeit down from 51% in FY24. The company continues to accrue a large cash balance of $224m as at 30-June-2025 with no debt.
Price target adjustment
Previously, Bell Potter had a price target of $21.75 on this ASX healthcare stock.
However, it has reduced this to $19.00.
Despite the reduction, the broker still indicates an enticing upside of over 69% based on yesterday's closing stock price of $11.20.
The key driver of our BUY recommendation is the potential expansion of Scenesse into vitiligo. The first Phase 3 readout is a major inflection point in achieving this objective and is ~12 months away. Our PT is decreased to $19.00 due to a reduction in our EV/EBITDA multiple to 10x and a decrease in DCF valuation due to lower forecasts.
The broker noted that the commercialisation of SCENESSE in additional indications, as well as the commercialisation of additional pharmaceutical drugs, requires regulatory approval from agencies such as the FDA and EMA.
This is worth monitoring for prospective investors of this ASX healthcare stock.
