Amgen Beats Q4 Expectations

Amgen, Inc. AMGN announced financial results Tuesday for the fourth quarter and full year of 2014.

Fourth quarter total revenues came in at $5.331 billion, above estimates of $5.20 billion and the $5.01 reported in the prior year period.

Fourth quarter adjusted EPS grew 19 percent to $2.16, above estimates of $2.05.

For the full year, total revenues increased 7 percent to $20.063 billion, with 6 percent product sales growth.

Full year adjusted operating income grew 22 percent to $8.475 billion. Adjusted EPS grew 14 percent to $8.70, driven by higher operating income offset partially by a higher tax rate in 2014.

"2014 was an outstanding year for Amgen," said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer. "Following tremendous progress in our pipeline, we look forward to embarking on a new product cycle with the launch of important new medicines throughout 2015."

For the full year of 2015, the company reaffirmed total revenues to be in the range of $20.8 billion to $21.3 billion and adjusted EPS to be in the range of $9.05 to $9.40.

The company expected an adjusted tax rate to be in the range of 18 percent to 19 percent. This excludes the benefit of the federal R&D tax credit, which has not yet been extended for 2015.

2015 capital expenditures were expected to be approximately $800 million.

Amgen traded at $158.53 in the after-hours session, down 0.23 percent.