** AMGN ($63 $66) 4th-Quarter Net Rose 20% on Solid Drug Sales
Thursday January 22, 5:38 pm ET
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Amgen Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMGN - News)'s fourth-quarter net income rose 20% amid a 33% jump in sales paced by its treatments for anemia, arthritis and chemotherapy-related infections.
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The world's largest biotechnology company late Thursday posted net income of $ 546.9 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with $456.4 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding expenses related to the company's 2002 acquisition of Immunex Corp. and certain other items, Amgen said it would have posted earnings of $614.5 million, or 46 cents a share, up from $471.7 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.
The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call (News - Websites) was for earnings of 48 cents a share.
Revenue rose 33% to $2.35 billion from $1.77 billion, with product sales up 38% at $2.24 billion.
Total operating expenses rose 43% to $1.59 billion. Excluding the Immunex acquisition and certain other items, total operating expenses rose 35% to $1.49 billion.
Amgen said combined sales of Epogen, its anemia therapy for patients on dialysis, and Aranesp, its treatment for anemia associated with chronic renal failure and anemia due to chemotherapy, rose 40% to $1.2 billion.
Combined sales of Neulasta, Amgen's once-per-cycle product for decreasing infections associated with many types of cancer chemotherapy treatments, and its predecessor Neupogen rose 27% to $688 million.
Amgen bought Immunex, along with the rights to the company's rheumatoid- arthritis drug Enbrel, in an $11 billion deal completed in July 2002.
Amgen said Thursday that Enbrel sales came to $380 million in the fourth quarter, up from $204 million a year earlier, reflecting the impact of supply constraints in 2002. The company said it believes sales growth for Enbrel was driven principally by demand.
For the full year, Amgen reported net income of $2.26 billion, or $1.69 a share. For full-year 2002, Amgen had a net loss of $1.39 billion, or $1.21 a share, including a $2.99 billion write-off of acquired in-process research and development related to the Immunex acquisition.
Full-year revenue rose 51% to $8.36 billion from $5.52 billion, with product sales up 58% at $7.87 billion.
Amgen reported its results after the market close. In 4 p.m. EST trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market (News - Websites) , Amgen was down $1.34, or 2.1%, at $61.47. Shares rose to $62 in after-hours trading, according to INET.
-Rose K. Manzo; Dow Jones Newswires; 609-520-4345 |
