By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as sales of its core HIV drugs increased 12 percent, and its shares rose 2.5 percent.
Sales of its AIDS drug Truvada rose 8 percent to $668.7 million, while sales of Atripla, which combines Truvada with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Sustiva into a single pill, rose 23 percent to $742.7 million.
The totals beat analysts' estimates of $657 million for Truvada and $737 million for Atripla, as compiled by Wedbush Securities.
'I was surprised that Truvada did as well as it did,' said Sanford Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges, who called Gilead's overall results 'solid, but not spectacular.'
The company left its full-year product sales forecast unchanged at $7.3 billion to $7.4 billion. Gilead had previously lowered its 2010 sales estimate by $300 million, citing foreign exchange rates and the impact of U.S. healthcare reform.
It also said, in slides prepared for a conference call, that it expects the healthcare reform legislation to reduce its 2011 net sales by about 5 or 6 percent -- which is in line with expectations for 2010.
Third-quarter net income rose nearly 5 percent to $704.9 million, or 83 cents a share, from $673 million, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusting for one-time items and stock-based compensation, the company earned 90 cents a share, which beat the 87 cents a share forecast on average by analysts, as compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
'I think people will be somewhat relieved,' Porges said. 'There was a sense that they were going to have some problems with pricing in Europe and discounting in the U.S.'
Gilead's total revenue rose 8 percent to $1.94 billion, slightly ahead of the average analyst estimate of $1.93 billion.
Shares of Gilead have fallen about 15 percent so far this year amid questions about its strategy as patents covering key medicines begin expiring in a few years.
'They don't spend any money on R&D (research and development) and their current product portfolio has about seven years to run,' Porges said. 'But what are they going to do next?'
The stock, which fell 2.2 percent to close at $36.73, traded at $37.65 after-hours.
Gilead said that through September it had spent about $2.41 billion, out of a $5 billion allocation, to repurchase its shares. Year to date, it said it had bought back about 10 percent of outstanding shares.
The company had $5.05 billion in cash at the end of September.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill) Keywords: GILEAD/ (deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; + 1 213-955-6746) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
LOS ANGELES, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as sales of its core HIV drugs increased 12 percent, and its shares rose 2.5 percent.
Sales of its AIDS drug Truvada rose 8 percent to $668.7 million, while sales of Atripla, which combines Truvada with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Sustiva into a single pill, rose 23 percent to $742.7 million.
The totals beat analysts' estimates of $657 million for Truvada and $737 million for Atripla, as compiled by Wedbush Securities.
'I was surprised that Truvada did as well as it did,' said Sanford Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges, who called Gilead's overall results 'solid, but not spectacular.'
The company left its full-year product sales forecast unchanged at $7.3 billion to $7.4 billion. Gilead had previously lowered its 2010 sales estimate by $300 million, citing foreign exchange rates and the impact of U.S. healthcare reform.
It also said, in slides prepared for a conference call, that it expects the healthcare reform legislation to reduce its 2011 net sales by about 5 or 6 percent -- which is in line with expectations for 2010.
Third-quarter net income rose nearly 5 percent to $704.9 million, or 83 cents a share, from $673 million, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusting for one-time items and stock-based compensation, the company earned 90 cents a share, which beat the 87 cents a share forecast on average by analysts, as compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
'I think people will be somewhat relieved,' Porges said. 'There was a sense that they were going to have some problems with pricing in Europe and discounting in the U.S.'
Gilead's total revenue rose 8 percent to $1.94 billion, slightly ahead of the average analyst estimate of $1.93 billion.
Shares of Gilead have fallen about 15 percent so far this year amid questions about its strategy as patents covering key medicines begin expiring in a few years.
'They don't spend any money on R&D (research and development) and their current product portfolio has about seven years to run,' Porges said. 'But what are they going to do next?'
The stock, which fell 2.2 percent to close at $36.73, traded at $37.65 after-hours.
Gilead said that through September it had spent about $2.41 billion, out of a $5 billion allocation, to repurchase its shares. Year to date, it said it had bought back about 10 percent of outstanding shares.
The company had $5.05 billion in cash at the end of September.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill) Keywords: GILEAD/ (deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; + 1 213-955-6746) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.