Bristol-Myers Q4 Results Top Estimates, But Issues Weak 2015 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) reported Tuesday a profit for the fourth quarter that plummeted from last year, hurt by higher restructuring and pension-related charges as well as a revenue decline.

However, adjusted earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped analysts' expectations. The company also provided earnings and revenue guidance for the full-year 2015, below Street view.

"We had an excellent fourth quarter to close a strong year financially and operationally, and made significant progress in our I-O pipeline with the approval of Opdivo in the U.S. for patients with advanced melanoma," CEO Lamberto Andreotti said in a statement.

Last week, Bristol-Myers announced the promotion of Chief Operating Officer Giovanni Caforio to succeed Andreotti as the new CEO of the company, effective May 5, 2015. Andreotti will become executive chairman of board on the same day and will continue to serve as chairman after his retirement on August 3.

The New York-based drug maker reported net earnings of $13 million or $0.01 per share for the fourth quarter, sharply lower than $726 million or $0.44 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter include a $0.28 per share impact of a non-cash charge resulting from the transfer of $1.5 billion of U.S. pension obligations to Prudential.

Excluding items, adjusted net earnings for the quarter was $771 million or $0.46 per share, compared to $842 million or $0.51 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total worldwide revenues for the quarter declined 4 percent to $4.26 billion from $4.44 billion in the same quarter last year, but topped fourteen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $4.03 billion.

Excluding the recently divested diabetes alliance, global revenues grew 6 percent or 9% adjusted for foreign exchange impact, to $4.21 billion.

U.S. revenues for the quarter decreased 8 percent to $2.08 billion, while it grew 7 percent to $2.09 billion, excluding the divested diabetes alliance. International net sales remained flat with last year.

Net product sales declined to $3.24 billion from $3.30 billion, as well as alliance and other revenues decreased to $1.02 billion from $1.14 billion last year.

Among cancer drugs, sales of Sprycel increased 9 percent to $398 million, sales of Yervoy grew 41 percent to $366 million, and Erbitux sales were up 1 percent at $181 million from last year.

In the virology business, sales of Hepatitis B treatment Baraclude declined 17 percent to $341 million, and Reyataz sales also decreased 17 percent to $318 million and Sustiva Franchise sales decreased 5 percent to $407 million from last year. Hepatitis C Franchise generated sales of $207 billion.

In the neuroscience business, schizophrenia drug Abilify's sales declined 25 percent to $476 million. In the Immunoscience business, arthritis drug Orencia saw a 12 percent growth in sales to $444 million. Cardiovascular drug Eliquis generated sales of $281 million, compared to last year's $71 million.

Gross margin for the quarter improved 600 basis points to 77.3 percent from the same quarter a year ago, primarily attributable to the diabetes divestiture.

Total expenses for the quarter declined to $4.32 billion from $3.57 billion in the year-ago quarter, including research and development expenses increase of 24 percent to $1.19 billion, and marketing, selling and administrative expenses increase of 8 percent to $1.15 billion from last year. Other expenses also soared to $799 million from $20 million last year.

The company noted that it received accelerated regulatory approval of Opdivo in the U.S., presented encouraging clinical data for Opdivo across several tumor types from its broad clinical program, and announced positive results that led to the early stop of Opdivo's Phase 3 trial in squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, the company presented important clinical data forEliquis and daclatasvir.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, Bristol-Myers Squibb expects reported and adjusted earnings in a range of $1.55 to $1.70 per share, on projected worldwide revenues between $14.4 billion and $15.0 billion. Street is currently looking for full-year 2015 earnings of $1.71 per share, on annual revenues of $15.60 billion.

"Our performance in 2014 across brands and geographies, continued innovation and productivity in R&D and investments in business development opportunities reflect the strength and execution of our BioPharma strategy, and positions us well for 2015," Andreotti added.

In Tuesday's regular trading session, BMY is currently trading at $61.09, down $1.35 or 2.16% on a volume of 1.91 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $46.30 to $64.44.