Amgen’s quarterly revenue beats analysts’ estimates on top drugs

AMGEN INC.'s reported higher-than-expected sales in the second quarter of 2013 / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO
AMGEN INC.'s reported higher-than-expected sales in the second quarter of 2013 / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK — Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company by revenue, reported second quarter sales that topped analysts’ estimates on growth of top medicines Neulasta and Enbrel. The company raised its 2013 forecast.
Revenue increased 4.5 percent to $4.68 billion from $4.48 billion in the same period a year earlier, Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen said today in a statement. Twenty analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg averaged $4.49 billion. Profit, excluding some one-time items, was $1.89 a share while analysts’ had estimated $1.74.
Investors are paying close attention to Amgen’s ability to increase sales as some of the company’s top-selling drugs may face competition from cheaper versions called biosimilars in the next few years, said Michael Yee, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. The company also is developing new products and trying to expand its business outside the U.S. as it seeks new revenue.
“People will be looking at the top line as a very important gauge,” Ravi Mehrotra, an analyst with Credit Suisse, said in a telephone interview today before the results were released. “But the street will also be looking for a grasp on where the company gets its long-term growth.”
Amgen said it expects total revenue for the year to be at the upper end of $17.8 billion to $18.2 billion, and for earnings excluding certain items to be $7.30 a share to $7.45 a share. The company had previously forecast earnings of $7.05 to $7.35 a share.
Net income in the second-quarter declined less than 1 percent to $1.26 billion, or $1.65 a share, the company said.
Amgen rose 1.5 percent to $112.86 at 4:15 p.m. New York time in extended trading. The shares had increased 29 percent this year through the close Tuesday.
Amgen made an unsolicited offer to buy Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. last month for $120 a share, Onyx said. That would value the South San Francisco-based company at about $10 billion. Onyx rejected the offer and said it’s working with advisers on finding other bidders.

No posts to display