Valeant Pharma Turns To Profit In Q4, But Revenues Miss View

(RTTNews) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX, VRX.TO) on Wednesday reported a turnaround to profit in the fourth quarter, reflecting a tax benefit that helped offset lower revenues.

Revenues for the quarter missed analysts' estimates and the company also forecast fiscal 2018 revenues below their expectations.

Net income attributable to the company for the fourth quarter of 2017 was $513 million or $1.45 per share, compared to net loss of $515 million or $1.47 per share in the year-ago period.

The latest quarter's results include an income tax benefit of $1.32 billion. In 2017 the Company recorded an income tax benefit of $4.15 billion, which was primarily attributed to an internal tax reorganization effort, which began in the fourth quarter of 2016 and was completed in the third quarter of 2017, and provisional benefits related to changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Total revenues for the quarter declined 10 percent to $2.16 billion from $2.40 billion in the year-ago period.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.98 per share on revenues of $2.17 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, Valeant forecast revenues in a range of $8.10 billion to $8.30 billion and adjusted EBITDA in a range of $3.05 billion to $3.20 billion. The Street expects the company to report revenues of $8.34 billion for the year.