UPDATE: Allergan Posts Upbeat Q3 Earnings, Lifts Forecast

Allergan

reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and lifted its forecast for the year. Allergan now expects full-year earnings of $6.27 to $6.30 per share, versus its earlier outlook of $6.20 to $6.25 per share. For the current quarter, the company projects earnings of $1.80 to $1.83 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $1.74 per share. Allergan expects Q4 product sales of $1.85 billion to $1.92 billion and FY14 product sales of $7.08 billion to $7.16 billion. The Irvine, California-based company posted a quarterly profit of $312.5 million, or $1.03 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $299.8 million, or $1 per share. Excluding items, the company's earnings rose to $1.78 per share from $1.23 per share. Its revenue gained 17% to $1.82 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.68 per share on revenue of $1.78 billion. Allergan's net product sales gained 17% to $1.79 billion, while specialty-pharmaceutical sales climbed 14% to $1.52 billion. Botox sales surged 15% to $560.1 million in the quarter. “With continuing strong momentum across a broad range of products, Allergan again recorded the strongest increase in absolute dollar sales in any quarter in our history, and again delivered sales and earnings per share growth above the high end of our expectations,” said David E.I. Pyott, Allergan's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Allergan shares gained 1.51% to $187.00 in pre-market trading.