Gilead Sciences Beats Q1 Views, Shares Rise

Shares of

surged over 3 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported stronger-then-expected results for the first quarter. For the year, the company now expects net product sales of $28 billion to $29 billion, versus its prior forecast of $26 billion to $27 billion. The Foster City, California-based company reported a quarterly profit of $4.33 billion, or $2.76 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $2.23 billion, or $1.33 per share. Excluding items, the company's earnings climbed to $2.94 per share from $1.48 per share. Its revenue jumped 52 percent to $7.59 billion. However, analysts were projecting a profit of $2.32 per share on revenue of $6.92 billion. Product sales climbed to $7.4 billion in the quarter, up from $4.9 billion. Product sales in the U.S. jumped to $5.2 billion from $3.6 billion, while product sales in Europe climbed to $1.8 billion from $1.0 billion. The average estimate among 168 Estimize users was for earnings of $2.48 per share and revenue of $7.03 billion. Sales for Sovaldi dropped 57 percent year-over-year to $972 million in the quarter, while Harvoni sales climbed to $3.58 billion from $2.11 billion in the prior quarter. As of March 31, 2015, the company had $14.5 billion of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, versus $11.7 billion as of December 31, 2014. Total costs and expenses climbed 13 percent to $2.2 billion for the quarter. Gilead Sciences shares rose 3.09 percent to $103.62 in the after-hours trading session.