UPDATE: Hospira Q4 Earnings Top Estimates

Hospira Inc. (NYSE: HSP) reported upbeat earnings for the fourth quarter.The Lake Forest, Illinois-based company reported a quarterly profit of $35.8 million, or $0.21 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $33.5 million, or $0.20 per share. Excluding items, the company earned $0.53 per share.Its sales surged 3.9% to $1.13 billion, while sales excluding currency impacts gained 6.2%. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $1.13 billion.Hospira's world-wide specialty injectable sales climbed 2.7%, while sales in the company's other pharma segment rose 25.4%. Medication management sales slipped 5% in the quarter.Adjusted income from operations slipped 5.7% to $121 million from $129 million."Hospira's solid fourth-quarter results contributed to a year of excellent growth for the company," said F. Michael Ball, chief executive officer. "Despite the entry of generic competition in the United States for our proprietary sedative Precedex™, we delivered a very good year for Hospira. Our results speak to the significant progress we made -- as well as the multiple milestones we achieved -- in our key growth areas of generic injectables, biosimilars and devices.Hospira shares fell 0.06% to close at $87.33 yesterday.