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. 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 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, 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 from Reuters
- get the story from the Star-Ledger
- read the Wall Street Journal article
- find the Ranbaxy numbers at Reuters

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