Shares in Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA) fell slightly in pre-market activity today after the pharmaceutical company beat earnings expectations on Wall Street with its 1st quarter results.
The Israel-based company posted profits of $641 million on sales of $5.63 billion for the 3 months ended March 31, for bottom-line growth of 1.3% on sales growth of 17% compared with the same period last year.
Teva’s sales were boosted by its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan‘s (NYSE:AGN) generic drug biz, Actavis, last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $1.06, ahead of consensus on The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $5.68 billion.
“In the 3 months since I have stepped in as the Interim CEO, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we extract synergies related to the Actavis Generics transaction, drive additional efficiencies throughout the organization, support cash generation, pay down debt, deliver on the promise of the specialty pipeline and execute key generic launches,” interim CEO Yitzhak Peterburg said in prepared remarks. “Looking forward to the rest of 2017, we are reaffirming our full-year outlook. While we have several challenges facing us, including the U.S generics market dynamics and greater instability in the Venezuela market, we are very confident that the global business we have built will allow Teva to thrive in the future as the leader in the generics industry. I would like to thank the employees of Teva for their hard work and dedication to continuing to deliver on our commitment to patients around the world.”
Teva said it expects to post adjusted EPS of $4.90-$5.30 on sales of $23.8 billion to $24.5 billion for the full year.
TEVA shares were trading at $31.25 apiece today in pre-market activity, down -0.4%.
