By Deena Beasley
(Reuters) -Gilead Sciences reported third-quarter financial results that handily beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday as sales climbed 7%, leading the drugmaker to raise its outlook for full-year earnings.
Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) shares rose more than 3% after it reported its results and revised forecast.
The Foster City, California-based company posted an adjusted quarterly profit of $2.02 per share on revenue of $7.5 billion, ahead of average analyst estimates of $1.55 per share and $7 billion, according to LSEG data.
Due to "the strength of our overall business model ... we're increasing our 2024 guidance across every metric," Gilead Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day told Reuters.
He said Gilead plans to file before the end of this year for U.S. regulatory approval of lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV infection.
The company's shares had closed up 1.6% at $91.69 on Wednesday, before climbing more than 3% in after hours trading to $94.60.
Gilead said net earnings for the quarter fell to $1.00 per share, from $1.73 a year earlier, due in part to a $1.75 billion impairment charge related to its 2020 acquisition of cancer drug developer Immunomedics (NASDAQ:IMMU).
Third-quarter sales of HIV drug Biktarvy rose 13% to $3.5 billion, while sales of in hospital COVID-19 treatment Veklury rose 9% to $692 million.
Oncology sales were up 6% to $816 million, while liver disease drugs brought in $733 million, up 4% from a year ago.
For full-year 2024, Gilead raised its product sales forecast to a range of $27.8 billion to $28.1 billion from a previous view of $27.1 billion to $27.5 billion. The company now expects an adjusted profit of $4.25 to $4.45 per share, up from $3.60 to $3.90.
Analysts have projected full-year earnings of $3.81 per share on revenue of $27.72 billion.
Gilead has shown good control of spending and the uptick in its full-year earnings estimate "was a little bit higher than we had expected, mostly because of Veklury," RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note.