Schering-Plough Reduces Profit Forecast for 2003 (Update3)
By Deborah Stern
Kenilworth, New Jersey, March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Schering- Plough Corp., whose marketing practices are under government investigation, cut its forecast for 2003 profit as generic competition erodes sales of its Claritin allergy drug.
Investors have speculated that Schering-Plough would lower its forecast as the company struggled with lower sales of Claritin, once its top-selling product. The drugmaker in December lost exclusive rights to Claritin, which generated almost a third of Schering-Plough's revenue in 2001.
``I'm dumbstruck that any company can keep shooting itself in the foot like this,'' said David Katz, chief investment officer for Matrix Asset Advisors Inc., which holds about 320,000 Schering- Plough shares. ``This is a continuation from a company that has been an absolute disaster in dealing with the investment community.''
Schering-Plough expects 2003 net income of 75 cents to 85 cents a share, below a forecast of $1 to $1.15 a share that the company made in October. The company today also said first-quarter profit will be about 10 cents a share, below the 25-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Shares of the Kenilworth, New Jersey-based company fell 53 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $16.60 as of 4:07 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has lost more than 52 percent of its value in the past 12 months.
Chief Executive Officer Richard Kogan said he will retire by next month as the company faces government probes into its research and marketing practices and tries to fix production flaws. Schering-Plough last week said fourth-quarter and 2002 earnings were less than it had announced because it had added $150 million to its legal reserves.
Manufacturing problems at the company delayed by 10 months the introduction of Claritin's successor, Clarinex, and forced the company to pay a record $500 million fine to settle regulators' complaints about the flaws. |
