Teva Beats Q1 Estimates, Raises Full-Year Forecast

reported upbeat results for the first quarter and raised its full-year forecast. For the full year, Teva now expects earnings of $5.05 to $5.35 per share, versus a prior outlook of $5 to $5.30 per share. Analysts had projected earnings of $5.16 per share. The Petach Tikva, Israel-based company posted quarterly earnings of $446 million, or $0.52 an American Depositary Share, compared to $744 million, or $0.87 an ADS, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company's earnings rose to $1.36 an ADS from $1.23 an ADS. Its revenue slipped to $4.98 billion from $5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.25 an ADS on revenue of $4.84 billion. The average estimate among 8 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.29 per share and revenue of $4.86 billion. The company's specialty medicine sales slipped 7 percent to $2 billion in the quarter, while generic medicine sales rose 9.2 percent to $2.62 billion in the same period. Global sales of its drug Copaxone declined 14 percent to $924 million. Non-GAAP gross profit margin widened to 61.5 percent in the first quarter, from 59.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. Research and development expenditures, excluding equity compensation expenses, slipped to $328 million, from $351 million, in the year-ago period. The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share. During the first quarter, the company repurchased around 8 million shares for an aggregate purchase price of $0.4 billion. At March 31, 2015, the company's cash and investments totaled $3.8 billion, versus $2.6 billion at December 31, 2014. "We are extremely pleased with our performance this quarter, which is truly the manifestation of our commitment to solidifying our foundation, driving organic growth and creating the most efficient operational network in the industry. Our commitment to revitalizing our core generics business has resulted in increased revenues and profitability supported by the successful launch of generic Nexium® in the U.S.," stated Erez Vigodman, Teva's President and CEO. Teva shares rose 0.68 percent to $62.50 in pre-market trading.