Valeant's Stock Soars After Profit Beats Expectations

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. soared 11% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the drug maker beat first-quarter profit expectations, although revenue came up shy. The company swung to a net profit of $628 million, or $1.79 a share, from a loss of $374 million, or $1.08 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 87 cents. Revenue fell to $2.11 billion from $2.37 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $2.18 billion, as product sales of $2.08 billion was below expectations of $2.13 billion. The company said lower volumes in U.S. diversified products and branded Rx segments resulted from a loss of exclusivity for a number of products and "challenging" market dynamics. Valeant raised its outlook for 2017 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to a range of $3.60 billion to $3.75 billion from $3.55 billion to $3.70 billion. The stock has plunged 33% year to date through Monday, while the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF has gained 5.6% and the S&P 500 has advanced 7.2%.