Gilead Sciences' Stock Pulls Back From Record High Close After Earnings Miss

Gilead Sciences' stock slumped 3.5% in after-hours trade Tuesday, after the biotechnology company reported third-quarter profit that missed expectations. Net earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 came in at $2.73 billion, or $1.67 a share, up from $788.6 million, or 47 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted per-share earnings were $1.84, below the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $1.92. Revenue more than doubled to $6.04 billion from last year's $2.78 billion, topping analyst forecasts of $5.99 billion. Product sales totaled $5.97 billion, with sales of its blockbuster antiviral drug Sovaldi, which was launched in December 2013, slipping to $2.8 billion from $3.48 billion in the sequential second quarter. The company also revised its 2014 outlook for net product sales to a range of $22 billion to $23 billion from $21 billion to $23 billion. The stock has rallied 51% so far this year to close Tuesday at an all-time high of $113.45, while the S&P 500 has tacked on 7.4% year to date.