Valeant Shares Plunge 11% Amid Earnings Miss, Forecast Cut

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX said it suffered a net loss of $373.7 million, or a loss of $1.08 per share in the first quarter of 2016 compared to net income of $97.7 million, or $0.28 per share in the first quarter of 2015. Excluding adjustments, it would have reported net income of $442.6 million, or $1.27 per share, down sharply from $704.2 million or $2.05 per share in the year-ago quarter. Street analysts expected the company to report earnings of $1.37 a share.

The company delivered total revenue of $2.4 billion for the first quarter representing an increase of 9 percent over the previous year quarter. Street predicted $2.38 billion.

In pre-market trading on Tuesday, shares of the company were down more than 11 percent at $25.50.

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Valeant's new chairman and CEO, Joseph Papa, commented about the results, "The first quarter's results reflect, in part, the impact of significant disruption this organization has faced over the past nine months. This has been a difficult period for Valeant and its stakeholders, and while there are some challenges to work through in certain business operations in 2016, such as our U.S. dermatology unit, the majority of our businesses are performing according to expectations."

He continued, "While we recognize that we did not meet the timeline for filing our first quarter results, with our filing expected this week, we will be current in our financial reporting. We have made progress toward stabilizing the organization over the past few months, and we expect to file our financial results in a timely manner going forward. Valeant has a portfolio of world class brands, a strong new product pipeline and dedicated leaders who are committed to doing what is right and what is necessary to turn this company around by re-engaging our workforce, rebuilding our relationships with prescribers, patients and payors, and regaining the trust of our debtholders and shareholders."

Going forward, Valeant reduced its full year adjusted earnings outlook to $6.60-$7.00 a share from $8.50-$9.50 a share. Similarly, the drug maker slashed its revenue guidance to $9.9-$10.1 billion from $11.0-$11.2 billion projected by it earlier. Street analysts expect the company to report earnings of $8.47 a share on revenues of $10.86 billion.