Shares in Novartis (NYSE:NVS) rose today after the pharmaceutical company met expectations on Wall Street with its second quarter results.
The company posted profits of $1.98 billion, or 84¢ per share, on sales of $12.24 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for bottom-line growth of 9% on sales loss of -2% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $1.22, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $11.83 billion.
“Novartis delivered very strong innovation in Q2 including the positive pivotal trial readouts for RTH258, ACZ885 and CTL019 JULIET, demonstrating the strength of our pipeline,” CEO Joseph Jimenez said in prepared remarks. “We are on track for the full year guidance. The trajectory of the current growth drivers reinforces our confidence in our next growth phase, which we expect to start in 2018.”
Novartis also reported that its eye care subsidiary, Alcon, experienced 3% growth in sales compared to last year, bringing in $1.5 billion. Jiminez has been reviewing the program for a possible disposal and the modest improvement in sales could help boost the company’s options.
NVS shares were trading at $84.26 apiece today in afternoon trading, up 1.2%.
