Bristol, Wyeth turn in strong Q2 results

Another big day on the earnings front, with mostly good news all the way around. Wyeth beat forecasts, and so did Bristol-Myers Squibb. Sepracor and Ranbaxy also reported strong results. Here are some details:

In one of the best pharma performances this quarter, Bristol-Myers posted a 29 percent profit jump due to higher sales of several key products, including the blood thinner Plavix [1]. Net income came in at $983 million, or 49 cents per share, up from $764 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $5.4 billion.
Wyeth had second-quarter profit of $1.27 billion, or 94 cents a share, up from $1.12 billion a year ago. Excluding charges of $52 million related to a cost-cutting program and merger expenses, earnings would have been 98 cents a share, beating analyst estimates. Wyeth's sales declined 4.2 percent to $5.7 billion, hurt by unfavorable exchange rates. A bright spot: Sales of the vaccine Prevnar [2] jumped 13 percent to $783 million.
Sepracor, which makes the sleep drug Lunesta, posted higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings--$44.9 million or 39 cents per share--and boosted its forecast for the year. In January, the company announced job cuts of 20 percent [3], a restructuring that is apparently paying off already. Investors cheered the news, sending its shares up more than 6.8 percent in premarket trading.
Ranbaxy Laboratories turned around after three straight quarters of losses, reporting consolidated quarterly net profits of $139 million. That's up from $5.5 million a year ago. Strong foreign exchange gains aided results.

Anyone we missed? Let us know. We'll be on the lookout for more numbers as they come in.

- see the Sepracor news [4] from Reuters
- get the story [5] from the Star-Ledger
- read the Wall Street Journal article [6]
- find the Ranbaxy numbers [7] at Reuters

Links:
[1] http://www.fiercepharma.com/tags/plavix
[2] http://www.fiercevaccines.com/tags/prevnar
[3] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/seprcaor-cuts-940-house-contract-positions-restructuring/2009-01-29?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FB0
[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN2444647920090724
[5] http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2009/07/wyeth_bristolmyers_see_strong.html
[6] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124834562577475445.html
[7] http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSBMA00343620090724
[8] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/merck-preps-merger-cost-cuts-strategy/2009-07-22
[9] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/glaxo-lilly-earnings-pfizer-down/2009-07-22
[10] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/strong-dollar-beats-down-pharma-revenues/2009-07-16
[11] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/abbott-profit-drops-lower-drug-sales/2009-07-15
[12] http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/j-j-beats-street-profits-sales/2009-07-14