AbbVie (ABBV) Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Up Y/Y

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) reported better-than-expected results in the first-quarter of 2017. The company surpassed both earnings and sales expectations.

In the past one year, AbbVie’s shares gained 3.9%, while the Zacks classified Large-Cap Pharma industry witnessed an increase of 5.9%.



The biopharmaceutical company reported first-quarter 2017 earnings of $1.28 per share that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.26 per share by 1.6%. Earnings grew 11% year over year.

The company posted revenues of $6.54 billion in the reported quarter, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.51 billion. Revenues also jumped 9.7% year over year. On operational basis revenue increased 10.1%.

Quarter in Detail

Humira sales on an operational basis, excluding currency impact, rose 15.8% year over year to $4.1 billion.

First-quarter net revenue from Imbruvica was $551 million, up 44.7% year over year. U.S. sales of Imbruvica were $457 million. AbbVie recorded $94 million of international profit sharing with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) .

Other products that delivered an impressive performance include Duodopa which showed revenue of $80 million up 22.8% on both operational and reported basis. Another product Creon reported revenue of $185 million up 19.8% and 17% on an operational and reported basis respectively.

HCV product Viekira recorded sales of $263 million, down 15.4% sequentially.

Adjusted SG&A expenses rose 0.7%, while R&D expenses increased 23.3% in the quarter. Adjusted operating margin was 42.3% of sales in the reported quarter.

2017 Outlook

AbbVie reiterated its previously issued outlook for 2017. The company maintains its adjusted EPS in the range of $5.44–$5.54 reflecting growth of 13.9% at the mid-point.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

AbbVie currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Heska Corporation (NASDAQ:HSKA) and Galena Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:GALE) which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Heska’s earnings per share estimates increased from $1.53 to $1.65 for 2017 and from $1.80 to $2.01 for 2018, over the last 60 days. The company posted positive surprises in three of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 291.54%.

Galena’s loss per share estimates narrowed from $2.03 to 58 cents for 2017, over the last 60 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in two of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 53.83%.

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