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Big biotech Amgen ( AMGN ) beat Wall Street’s Q1 estimates and raised guidance Thursday after the close, though its stock went sideways in after-hours trading. Its peer Gilead Sciences ( GILD ), however, was down sharply after a weak quarter. Amgen reported adjusted earnings of $2.90 a share, up 17% from the year-earlier quarter and 30 cents ahead of analysts’ consensus, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue increased 10% to $5.53 billion, more than $200 million above consensus. The company lifted its full-year guidance, though not by quite as much as the Q1 beat. Its EPS range is now $10.85 to $11.20, up from $10.60 to $11. The revenue guide is $22.2 billion to $22.6 billion, vs. $22 billion to $22.5 billion. Last year, Amgen made $10.38 in EPS on $21.66 billion in revenue. Amgen’s best-selling drug Enbrel, for rheumatoid arthritis, beat expectations by growing 24% to $1.39 billion, almost $140 million above consensus, according to Evercore ISI. Its second-biggest drug Neulasta, for neutropenia, modestly beat estimates by gaining 4% to $1.18 billion. On the other hand, some of Amgen’s newer drugs came up short. Cancer drug Kyprolis grew 43% but was still $19 million shy of consensus with $154 million in sales, while newly launched cholesterol drug Repatha continued its underperformance with a $16 million take. Gilead Takes A Hit In Hep C Gilead, meanwhile, reported earnings of $3.03 a share excluding one-time items, up 3% from last year’s Q1 and 12 cents below Wall Street’s average estimate. Revenue rose 2.6% to $7.79 billion, about $325 million below consensus. Gilead nonetheless made no change to its full-year guidance, calling for $30 billion to $31 billion in product sales and 88% to 90% gross margin. Gilead’s blockbuster hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi accounted for most of the shortfall, though for opposite reasons: Harvoni missed badly in the U.S. but outperformed abroad, while Sovaldi did the opposite. Earlier in the day, AbbVie ( ABBV ) reported that Harvoni’s chief competitor Viekira also came up short of consensus, which the company attributed to Merck ‘s ( MRK ) unexpectedly aggressive pricing of recently launched rival Zepatier. (Merck will report its Q1 on May 5.) The quarter also brought a screeching halt to Gilead’s two-year stretch of double- or triple-digit sales and profit growth, starting with the Dec. 2013 launch of Sovaldi. Analysts expect growth will totally flatten unless the company makes a transformative acquisition. Gilead stock was down more than 6% after hours Thursday, after it closed the regular session down 3.7%, at 97. Scalper1 News
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