Another day, another slew of earnings reports. Today, it's Abbott Laboratories beating the Street's expectations, and Gilead Sciences posting a big increase in earnings. Here are the high points.
- Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) reported better-than-expected earnings on a return of booming sales growth for arthritis drug Humira and strong demand for its other medicines, medical devices and nutritional products. Revenues grew 15 percent to $7.7 billion; earnings were down to $1 billion from $1.44 billion a year ago, but that higher number came on a one-time gain. So, excluding items, EPS grew to 81 cents from 70 cents. Abbott release | Report
- Gilead's (NASDAQ: GILD) earnings for Q1 rose by 45 percent as revenue grew 36 percent to $2.09 billion. But sales of its HIV drugs Truvada and Atripla came in lower than analysts had expected: Truvada brought in $657.8 million, compared with estimates of $680 million, while Atripla sales were $692.9 million, compared with estimates of $726 million. Gilead release | Report
- Elan (NYSE: ELN) narrowed its first-quarter loss, helped by revenue from MS blockbuster Tysabri. CFO Shane Cooke forecast full-year revenue growth, and predicted that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization would reach more than $150 million. Elan release | Report
- Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) reported a drop in profits, as a one-time licensing charge weighed income down to $22.6 million, down from $92.8 million year-over-year. Without that charge, EPS of 83 cents was in line with analyst expectations. It has $4 billion in cash available for licensing and buyouts, but it's not looking for a big deal, CFO Frank Perier said. "We don't see the need to do some kind of big, transformative merger," he said. Forest release | Report
There's more to come; most of Big Pharma hasn't reported yet. So you numbers hounds will have plenty to chew on.