AbbVie Shares Up 2% As Profit, Sales Beat Estimates

AbbVie Inc. shares climbed more than 2% in premarket trade Friday, after the biopharma company's third-quarter profit and sales beat estimates. The company, which was spun out of Abbott Laboratories in 2013, said it had net profit of $506 million, or 31 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $964 million, or 60 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 89 cents, well ahead of the FactSet consensus of 77 cents. Sales climbed to $5.019 billion from $4.658 billion, also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $4.831 billion. "We exceeded our outlook for the quarter and have significantly raised our original 2014 guidance," Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez said in a statement. The company is now expecting full-year per-share earnings of $3.25 to $3.27, up from a prior range of $3.06 to $3.16. Shares are up about 16% in the year so far, outperforming the S&P 500 which is up about 8%.