Shares in Biogen (NSDQ:BIIB) rose today after the biopharmaceutical company met expectations on Wall Street with its second quarter results.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company posted profits of $863 million, or $4.07 per share, on sales of $3.1 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for bottom-line loss of -18% on sales growth of 6% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $5.04, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $2.81 billion.
“Biogen continued to perform well across multiple areas of our business. This quarter demonstrated our ability to advance and expand the pipeline, deliver strong commercial results, and build our senior management team,” CEO Michel Vounatsos said in prepared remarks. “Our market-leading MS portfolio continues to perform as we anticipated at the beginning of the year, as an increasing number of patients worldwide are benefiting from our therapies. Through Biogen’s efforts, patients are gaining access to Spinraza around the world for a disease that previously had no approved therapies. And, we have added exciting assets to our pipeline to drive future growth.”
“We are developing transformational therapies to address what we believe are becoming the world’s most significant unmet medical needs. Our mission is clear – the world needs a leader in neuroscience, and we aim to be that leader,” Vounatsos added.
Biogen said it expects to post adjusted EPS of $20.80 to $21.40 on sales of $11.5 billion to $11.8 billion for the full year. That’s up from what the company predicted in January, when it said it hoped to post adjusted EPS of $20.45 to $21.25 on sales of $11.1 billion to $11.4 billion.
BIIB shares were trading at $282.55 apiece today in afternoon activity, down -0.8%.
