Shares of
Amgen
were falling Tuesday even after the biotechnology company easily beat quarterly earnings estimates and raised revenue guidance.
Amgen
(ticker: AMGN) posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.96 a share, better than Wall Street estimates of $4.78 and higher than $4.70 a year earlier.
Revenue was $6.9 billion, slightly short of the $6.92 billion analysts had penciled in.
Third-quarter sales of inflammation drug Amjevita/Amgevita rose 30% year over year, boosted by 53% volume growth and partially offset by lower prices, according to Amgen. Sales of Prolia, one of the company’s general medicine treatments, jumped 14% from a year ago, boosted by a 7% increase in volume and higher prices.
Otezla sales fell 10% from the year-ago quarter, and management said demand for the inflammation drug will continue to be affected by free drug programs through the rest of the year.
Enbrel sales dropped 6%, while volume tipped higher, lifted by an increase in new patients starting treatment thanks to better payer coverage. “For the remainder of 2023, we expect this improved coverage will lead to growth in new patients and declining net selling price,” the company said in the release.
For 2023, the company raised its revenue guidance range to $28 billion and $28.4 billion, higher than a prior range of $26.6 billion to $27.4 billion. It narrowed its forecast for adjusted earnings per share to a range of $18.20 and $18.80, compared to an earlier call for $17.80 to $18.80.
Earlier this month, Amgen completed its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, in a deal valued at about $27.8 billion.
“With the completion of the Horizon acquisition, Amgen has added rare disease medicines that fit well with our broad innovative portfolio,” said Chairman and CEO Robert Bradway in the earnings release.
Despite the largely positive earnings report, Amgen stock was down 2.8% to $255.74 in Tuesday trading.
There’s a few things driving shares lower, according to William Blair analyst Matt Phipps, who rates shares at Market Perform. He says the guidance raise was based on closing the Horizon deal, as opposed to purely organic growth.
In addition, the earnings beat was based on some one-time items, he told Barron’s in an email. Meanwhile, sales of several key growth products—including Lumakras, Repatha, and Amjevita—arrived below expectations.
“Some of those products missing estimates in Q3 removes some of the commercial momentum,” he said.
Write to Emily Dattilo at emily.dattilo@dowjones.com
Read the full article here