Bristol-Meyers Tops Street as Plavix Retakes Market

Bristol-Meyers posted third-quarter earnings and revenue that were slightly ahead of Street expectations, and boosted its full-year forecast, after sales of its top-selling anti-clotting drug Plavix grew due to an extension of its patent. Net income more than doubled to $858 million (adjusted EPS of $0.38/share) from $338 million ($0.17/share) last year. Last year's earnings took a hit after generic drugmaker Apotex made its Plavix imitation for three weeks prior to Bristol-Meyers's patent extension. Revenue rose 22% to $5.05 billion from $4.15 billion. Street estimates were for EPS of $0.37 on revenue of $5.02 billion. Plavix sales nearly doubled to $1.25 billion, boosting BMY's pharma unit sales 24%. Health-care sales were up 12% and nutritionals gained 16%. Sales of its cancer drug Erbitux, which it sells in partnership with ImClone, gained 6% to $185M. Newer drugs were a strong point: antipsychotic Abilify had $420 million in sales (+34%); HIV treatment Reyataz $273 million (+17%); and hypertension drugs Avapro and Avalide sold $309 million (+12%). Meanwhile cancer drug Taxol and cholesterol treatment Pravachol saw sales declines of 26% and 55% respectively, due to generic competition. For full-year 2007, Bristol upped its EPS forecast to $1.42-1.47 from a previous $1.35-1.45. "We remain focused on developing breakthrough medicines for patients worldwide, while also delivering shareholder value," CEO James Cornelius said (full earnings call transcript later today). "Bristol-Myers benefits now from the depletion of generic Plavix, and that is still the biggest contributor to earnings," Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder told Bloomberg in an interview. Apotex's generic drug has "worked its way out of the channel," he said. Shares are up 1.9% in pre-market trading.

Sources: Press release, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
Commentary: The Bill Cara Global 100 Best Companies Explained • Baby Stocks: 10 Ways to Grow Your Portfolio
Stocks to watch: BMY. Competitors: PFE, MRK, NVS, GSK, SNY. ETFs: IHE, PPH, PRFH
Earnings call transcript: Bristol-Myers Squibb Q2 2007

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