Gilead 3Q Net Rises 36%; Benefits From Tamiflu
출처 : Wall Street Journal - - Oct 20, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091020-717021.html
By Thomas Gryta
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Gilead Sciences Inc.’s (GILD) third-quarter profit climbed 36% as the Foster City, Calif., drug maker saw a sharp jump in royalties from flu-treatment Tamiflu because of worldwide preparations for swine flu.
Gilead, known more for its HIV treatments, discovered Tamiflu but licensed it to Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) for royalty payments that it receives with a one-quarter lag. The company projected those payments would continue to rise, although sales of its top-selling HIV drugs Atripla and Truvada were slightly below expectations for the quarter.
Gilead said sales of both drugs faced pressure in the third quarter as wholesalers stocked up during the second quarter to get ahead of July price increases, reducing demand in the latest quarter. Demand has stabilized moving into the fourth quarter.
Shares of Gilead, down 10% this calendar year, dropped 2.5% in after-hours trading to $44.97.
Looking forward, Gilead raised its projected 2009 net product revenue to $6.35 billion, from a previous range of $6.1 billion to $6.2 billion. Wall Street currently projects total revenue for the year of $6.75 billion, which includes revenue from royalties, contracts and other sources.
The company expects royalties from Tamiflu will rise to $195 million in the fourth quarter, adding 16 cents to its earnings per share, based on Roche’s performance for the third quarter.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, Gilead reported net income of $673 million, or 72 cents a share, up from $495.8 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, earnings were 78 cents a share, beating a Wall Street projection of 67 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Revenue rose 31% to $1.8 billion, also beating expectations of $1.75 billion.
Results for the quarter benefitted from Tamiflu royalties of $113.5 million, compared to $8.6 million a year ago, boosting earnings in the latest quarter by 9 cents a share.
Third-quarter sales of Truvada, which includes two Gilead drugs, rose 13% to $620.6 million, below a Wall Street consensus estimate of $628 million, according to MDRx Financial, a health-care market research firm.
Atripla, a triple treatment that consists of Truvada along with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s (BMY) Sustiva, saw sales rise 42% to $605.3 million, also missing Wall Street views of $615 million.
During the second quarter, Atripla was launched in France, which Gilead has called the largest HIV market in the European Union. In the latest quarter, it said the European sales of Atripla continue to show “robust growth.”
The company expects to the drug in Belgium in coming weeks, and in Australia and New Zealand in early 2010.
Sales of Viread, another HIV treatment, rose 9% to $169.7 million, beating analyst expectations of $163 million.
The company recorded sales of Ranexa, an angina treatment, of $49 million. The drug was acquired in Gilead’s $1.4 billion purchase of CV Therapeutics Inc. in April.
-By Thomas Gryta, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2169; thomas.gryta@dowjones.com
