Amgen, Bristol beat the Street in 3Q

A slew of new earnings figures out today, with some drugmakers reporting better-than-expected results, and even upping their 2008 year-end forecasts. Others, namely Eli Lilly, weren't so fortunate: the Indianapolis pharma slipped to a loss on big-time settlements of its Zyprexa legal troubles. Here's a digest:

• New warnings about Amgen’s blockbuster anemia drug didn’t hit the biotech company as hard as Wall Street had forecast. The company reported Street-beating earnings of $1.2 billion, up from $201 million a year earlier. Now, Amgen predicts full-year EPS to hit $4.45 to $4.55 per share, up from an earlier forecast of $4.25 to $4.45.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb trumpeted a tripling of third-quarter net to $2.58 billion on the $4.1 billion sale of its high-tech dressing and wound-care business, Conva-Tec. Bristol also reported healthy increases in product sales--14 percent overall--as revenues reached $5.25 billion. The company now expects EPS for the year to hit the upper half of its previous forecast, or $1.65 to $1.70 per share.
• Eli Lilly swung to a loss, hurt by a previously announced charge to settle two government investigations into its Zyprexa marketing. The company posted a loss of $466 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with $926 million, or 85 cents a share, for the same period in 2007. Excluding certain items, Lilly would have reported 3Q EPS of $1.04 cents this year versus 91 cents last year.
• Wyeth reported a drop in profits to $1.14 billion, but the company still managed to meet analyst forecasts as it continues with a restructuring program designed to compensate for competition from generics. A lackluster debut for Pristiq, an antidepressant-slash-menopausal medication, didn't help matters.
  

- see Amgen's numbers
- check out Bristol's results
- read about Wyeth earnings
- review Eli Lilly's report

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