AbbVie Falling After Q4 Report, 2016 Guidance Affirmation

Shares of AbbVie Inc ABBV were trading lower by more than 4 percent early Friday morning after the company reported its fourth quarter results.

AbbVie earned $1.13 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $6.36 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.12 per share on revenue of $6.39 billion.

Humira global sales rose 16.0 percent from a year ago to $3.717 billion and was driven by "exceptional" growth of 20.7 percent in the US where sales totaled $2.332 billion.

AbbVie added its sales growth of 18.4 percent from a year ago was also driven by $554 million in global VIEKIRA sales and Global IMBRUVICA sales which totaled $343 million. The company also noted "strong operational growth" from sales of Duodopa, Creon and Lupron.

"AbbVie delivered strong performance in 2015, exceeding original sales, margin expansion, and earnings projections for the year," said Richard A. Gonzalez, chairman and chief executive officer, AbbVie. "We achieved significant growth in 2015, and expect to continue building on that momentum in 2016 with another year of strong performance."

Looking forward to the full year fiscal 2016, AbbVie reaffirmed its earnings per share guidance of $4.90 to $5.10 which represents "strong" double-digit growth. Wall Street analysts were already estimating the company to earn $5.03 per share.