Amgen Beats Profit Expectations And Raises Its Outlook

Shares of Amgen Inc. fell 1.3% in after-hours trade Thursday, after the biotechnology company beat third-quarter earnings expectations and raised its profit outlook, but kept its sales outlook virtually unchanged. Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $2.01 billion, or $2.68 a share, from $1.86 billion, or $2.44 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $3.02, above the FactSet consensus of $2.79. Revenue rose 2% to $5.81 billion from $5.72 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $5.73 billion, although sales of its top two selling drugs--Enbrel and Neulasta--fell shy of estimates. For 2016, Amgen boosted its adjusted EPS outlook to $11.40 to $11.55 from $11.10 to $11.40, compared with the FactSet consensus of $11.36. The revenue outlook was revised slightly to $22.6 billion to $22.8 billion from $22.5 billion to $22.8 billion; the FactSet consensus is $22.8 billion. The stock had slipped 1.1% year to date through Thursday's close, while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF tumbled 19% and the S&P 500 gained 4.4%.