Amgen second quarter profit dips, sales rise 20%
By Deena Beasley
Aug 6 (Reuters) -Amgen AMGN.O on Tuesday said its second-quarter profit slipped 1% as higher expenses offset a 20% increase in revenue driven by the biotechnology company's October acquisition of rare disease drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics.
Amgen reported adjusted earnings of $4.97 per share, which was just short of the average analyst estimate of $5.00, according to LSEG data.
Quarterly revenue of $8.39 billion was slightly ahead of the $8.37 billion forecast by analysts.
Sales of cholesterol drug Repatha rose 25% to $532 million, while sales of older rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel fell 15% to $902 million.
The company had "twelve products that delivered at least double-digit sales growth," Amgen Chief Financial Officer Peter Griffith said in an interview.
Second-quarter sales of Tepezza, Horizon's thyroid eye disease drug, rose 7% from a year earlier to $479 million, while gout drug Krystexxa saw sales rise 20% to $294 million.
Excluding Horizon's drugs, Amgen said product sales grew 5%.
The company said quarterly net earnings fell 46% to $1.38 per share, due to higher operating expenses, including costs related to the Horizon deal.
Investors are focused on progress with Amgen's experimental weight-loss drug MariTide. The company said it expects to have initial data from a mid-stage trial of the medicine late this year.
"We are laser focused on preparing to quickly launch a broad Phase 3 program in obesity, obesity-related conditions and diabetes," Griffith said.
Some analysts have forecast the market for new drugs for weight loss reaching $130 billion a year by the early 2030s.
For full-year 2024, Amgen raised the lower end of its revenue outlook to a range of $32.8 billion to $33.8 billion from a previous low end forecast of $32.5 billion.
Amgen also narrowed its 2024 adjusted earnings estimate and now expects a profit of $19.10 to $20.10 per share, compared with its previous view of $19.00 to $20.20.
Analysts have forecast 2024 earnings per share of $19.51 on revenue of $33.1 billion.
Reporting By Deena Beasley in Los Angeles
Editing by Bill Berkrot
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.