Amgen shares fall after Q2 earnings reveal ‘bare’ pipeline

Shares in Amgen (NSDQ:AMGN) fell today even though the biotech topped expectations on Wall Street with its second quarter results.

The Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company posted profits of $2.2 million, or $2.91 per share, on sales of $5.8 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for bottom-line growth of 15% on sales growth of 2% compared with the same period last year.

Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $3.27, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $5.67 billion.

“Our continued solid performance this quarter is yet another indication that we are on track to deliver on our long-term growth objectives,” chairman & CEO Robert Bradway said in prepared remarks. “Our newer products are registering strong volume-driven growth globally and we expect their contribution to continue to increase over time, offsetting declines in mature products.”

Leerink Partners analyst Geoffrey Porges reportedly noted that although some of Amgen’s drugs did well this quarter, the company doesn’t seem prepared to “offset the flattening legacy products.”

“The company requires new opportunities to offset the further decline of legacy products, and their late stage pipeline looks embarrassingly bare,” Porges wrote, according to CNBC.

Amgen said it expects to post adjusted EPS of $12.15 to $12.65 apiece on sales of $22.5 billion to $23 billion for the full year.

AMGN shares were trading at $175.69 apiece today in afternoon activity, down -2.9%.

Want to stay on top of DDBN content? Sign up for our e-mail newsletter for a weekly dose of drug-device news.