Teva Quarterly Profit Trumps Street As Global Demand Soars

Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TEVA) reported on Wednesday a stronger-than-expected 7% improvement in its first-quarter profit, as strong international growth more than offset weak performances in North America.

The Israeli generic drug maker posted net income of $761 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with $713 million, or 79 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding one-time restructuring, acquisition and regulatory-related costs, the company earned $1.04 a share, matching average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for the three months ended March 31 was $4.1 billion, up 12% from $3.7 billion a year ago, missing the Street’s view of $4.27 billion.

Sales were fueled by a 66% improvement in Europe and 26% growth in Latin America and Asia, with demand surging for its respiratory, women’s health, Azilect in-market, Copaxone and API products.

“We continue to make progress in executing our long-term strategy of building an even stronger and more diversified business,” Teva CEO Shlomo Yanai said in a statement. “Teva’s performance during the first quarter provides a good demonstration of the power of our balanced business model.”

Offsetting strong international gains was an 11% drop in North American sales to $2.06 billion. Sales in the region were hurt by the voluntary shutdown of its Irvine injectables facilities and the slowdown of the Jerusalem facility due to an FDA warning. Production at the Irvine facility resumed last month and a complete response to the FDA calling for re-inspection at the Jerusalem facility was recently submitted.

The year-earlier period benefited from new launches, product exclusivities and sales of key products which were absent or diminished in the latest quarter.

Despite a weak performance in the U.S., Teva reaffirmed its fiscal guidance of non-GAAP earnings in the range of $4.90 to $5.20 a share on revenues between $18.5 billion and $19 billion. Wall Street is looking for earnings of $5.10 a share on sales of $18.70 billion.