ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis reported better-than-expected results on Tuesday, as a pre-tax gain from the sale of its Idenix shareholding offset full copycat competition to its former best-selling blood pressure pill Diovan.
Third-quarter sales came in at $14.7 billion (9.11 billion pounds), up 4 percent from a year earlier. Core earnings per share (EPS) — the measure most followed by investors — rose 10 percent to $1.37.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast sales of $14.54 billion and core EPS of $1.31.
The Basel-based firm kept its financial outlook for the full year unchanged, predicting low-to-mid-single digit sales growth in constant exchange rate terms. It also forecasts core operating income to grow at a mid-to-high-single digit rate.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley)
Novartis third-quarter results beat poll
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