|
Amgen 4Q misses targets
|
 |
January 24, 2001: 5:32 p.m. ET
Biotech leader's earnings, revenue fall short; Immunex beats forecasts
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Biotechnology bellwether Amgen Inc. came up just short of analysts' profit and revenue forecasts in the fourth quarter, although the company reaffirmed its guidance for 2001 results that it gave to analysts in November.
The largest biotechnology company in terms of sales earned net income of $210.8 million, or 19 cents a share, although that included some one-time charges. But even excluding the charges, the result fell short of the forecasts of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call for EPS of 25 cents. It also trails the company's net income of $281.6 million, or 26 cents a share, that it posted a year earlier.
 The company took a $30 million after-tax charge to write-off in-process research and development related to the acquisition of Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as well as $25 million, or 2 cents a share, for donations to the Amgen Foundation. First Call said it believes the R&D charge will not count against estimates, but that it had yet to hear from analysts on the donation charge, so it is uncertain whether it will consider the company's earnings per share to be 22 cents or 24 cents for purposes of comparison to forecasts.
The company's overall revenue rose to $951.4 million in the quarter. That missed First Call's forecast of $963.3 million, although it was up from the $926.9 million it posted a year earlier.
The company did not give specific revenue or earnings-per-share guidance for the coming year in its earnings report but it said it expects total product sales to grow in the mid- to high teens for the year, while earnings-per-share growth should be in the mid-teens rate in 2001, excluding non-recurring items. First Call forecasts that 2001 EPS will come to $1.23, which would be a 12-to-14 percent growth, depending on how analysts treat the charitable charge.
Shares of Amgen (AMGN: Research, Estimates) lost $2.50 to $66.56 in after-hours trading Wednesday after gaining $1.31 to close regular-hours trading at $69.06 ahead of the earnings report.
Immunex beats forecasts
In other biotechnology earnings, Immunex Corp. topped forecasts with fourth-quarter earnings of $49.2 million, or 9 cents a share.
That was 1 cent a share better than First Call's forecast and even beat full-year 1999 profit. In the fourth quarter of 1999, the company earned $16.2 million, or 3 cents a share.
 Immunex, the world's tenth-largest biotechnology company in terms of sales, develops biopharmaceutical products to treat cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. It also beat First Call's fourth-quarter revenue forecast of $244.97 million with revenue of $250.67 million. It posted revenue of $162.6 million in the quarter a year earlier.
Shares of Immunex (IMNX: Research, Estimates), which is 40 percent owned by pharmaceutical company American Home Products Corp. (AHP: Research, Estimates), gained 13 cents to $34.50 in after-hours trading Wednesday after climbing $1.06 to close regular-hours trading at $34.38 ahead of the after-hours report. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
