BOSTON Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reported moderately higher first-quarter earnings Tuesday, boosted in part by improved gross margins, but revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Shares of Bristol-Myers skidded 3% to $19.92 by late morning.
Bristol-Myers (BMY:19.82, -0.72, -3.5%) posted net income of $921 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with $891 million, or 33 cents, earned in the first three months of 2008.
The company had about 1% fewer average common shares outstanding in the latest quarter compared with the same period a year earlier.
Excluding various items, New York-based Bristol-Myers would have reported adjusted earnings of 48 cents a share. For the 2008 quarter, the company's earnings from continuing operations came to 39 cents a share.
Sales generated during the latest quarter rose 3% to a lower-than-projected $5.02 billion, up from the prior year's $4.89 billion. Excluding dollar translations, sales would have been up 8%, the company said.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had been looking for Bristol-Myers to report first-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share as well as revenue of $5.14 billion.
Quarterly sales of blood thinner Plavix, the company's top-selling product, reached $1.44 billion, up 10%. Plavix is co-marketed with Sanofi-Aventis (SNY:27.17, -0.06, -0.2%) .
Another big seller, antidepressant Abilify saw sales climb 30% to $589 million in the latest three months.
In a recent research note, Deutsche Bank pharmaceuticals analyst Barbara Ryan said she saw sales of Plavix rising 6% for the quarter to $1.39 billion, while Abilify sales were pegged to leap 37% to $620 million.
Meanwhile, gross margins widened nearly to 72% from 68% in the year-earlier quarter, the company said.
Bristol-Myers also confirmed its 2009 financial forecast calling for earnings of between $1.58 and $1.73 a share as well as adjusted earnings in a range of $1.85 to $2 a share.
In February, Bristol-Myers spun out a portion of Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN:29.00, +2.75, +10.5%) into a publicly traded company. The drugmaker retains an 83% equity stake in Mead.
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