Specialty-drug giant Actavis beat analyst Q1 estimates Wednesday, as management projected a solid future from an expanding product line aided by acquisitions. Earnings jumped 75% over the year-earlier quarter to $3.49 a share, topping analysts’ consensus by 26 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Sales gained 40% to $2.66 billion, beating estimates by about $70 million. The stock rose 3% to 204.15 — up 93% over the past 12 months.
Twitter late Tuesday topped Q1 earnings and revenue forecasts, but new user growth failed to satisfy investors, sending shares tumbling late to post-IPO lows. The microblogging site broke even, whereas analysts expected a 3-cent per-share loss ex items, according to Thomson Reuters. Twitter (TWTR) earned 2 cents in Q4 but lost 8 cents a year earlier. Sales jumped 119% to $250.5 million, accelerating slightly from Q4’s 116% gain
Years before China topped the list of the world’s largest Internet populations, Baidu co-founder Robin Li set a foundation that would let his company rise alongside the Web boom. Even when Baidu (BIDU) debuted in the U.S. stock market in 2005, five years after the search engine’s founding, just 8% of China’s population regularly logged onto the Web. That was vs. 70% penetration in America. But CEO Li from the start emphasized that