© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A pharmacist holds a bottle of the drug Eliquis, made by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at a pharmacy in Provo
By Michael Erman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bristol Myers (NYSE:) Squibb Co reported lower-than-expected first-quarter profit on Thursday as sales of its high margin cancer drugs Revlimid and Opdivo fell short of Wall Street estimates.
The underperformance of the cancer drugs was partially offset by better-than-expected sales of the blood thinner Eliquis that Bristol Myers shares with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:)
Excluding one-time items, the New York-based drugmaker said it earned $3.95 billion in the quarter, or $1.74 a share, compared with $3.96 billion, or $1.72 a share, a year ago.
Analysts on average expected $1.82 a share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Chief Financial Officer David Elkins said in an interview that the sales mix – in particular, the outperformance in lower margin Eliquis versus higher margin Revlimid – accounts for most of the gap between the results and analysts’ expectations.
Bristol Myers still expects full-year earnings in the range of $7.35 to $7.55 a share, Elkins said.
Revenue in the quarter of $11.07 billion was basically in line with analysts’ projections.
Eliquis sales were $2.89 billion, beating analyst expectations by about $300 million. Revlimid had sales of $2.94 billion, around $150 million lower than Wall Street projections.
Sales of cancer immunotherapy Opdivo fell 3% to $1.72 billion, also around $150 million shy of analysts’ estimates.
“Overall, I think we’re in a good place,” Elkins said, adding that he expects Eliquis’ growth to continue and Opdivo to return to growth in the second half of the year due to approvals in new tumor types and its increasing use as an initial treatment for advanced lung cancer.
The company reported net earnings of $2.02 billion, or 89 cents per share, for the quarter, versus a net loss of $775 million a year ago, due in part to costs associated with the Celgene (NASDAQ:) acquisition.
Bristol Myers shares closed at $66.03 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The company’s shares are up around 7.6% this year, underperforming the index, which is up around 13% over the same period.
Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
