Wyeth First-Quarter Net Income Gained 44% on Strong Drug Sales
By HEATHER WON TESORIERO
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 21, 2005; Page A9
Wyeth reported a 44% increase in first-quarter profit, fueled by robust sales of drugs and vaccines, and said that full-year earnings could "exceed" the upper end of projections it made in March. Wyeth's strong first-quarter sales growth compares favorably with that of some other pharmaceutical companies.
The drug maker, based in Madison, N.J., reported net income of $1.08 billion, or 80 cents a share, compared with $749.7 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Wyeth benefited from favorable exchange rates and a charge a year earlier.
Revenue rose 14% to $4.58 billion, helped by sales of Prevnar, a meningitis vaccine, Effexor, an antidepressant, and Enbrel, an arthritis drug.
"It was one of the best quarters we've ever had," Wyeth Chief Executive Robert Essner said. "A lot of things did a little better than expected." In March, Wyeth told investors that full-year profit, adjusted to exclude share-based compensation and taxes on potentially repatriated foreign profits, would be $2.70 to $2.80 a share. Yesterday, the company said it could exceed those numbers. In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares fell 96 cents to $42.95.
Pharmaceutical sales in the first quarter climbed 16% to $3.72 billion from a year earlier. Sales of Prevnar more than doubled to $391 million on increasing demand. In the year-earlier period, manufacturing problems led to shortages.
Sales of Effexor, the top-selling antidepressant world-wide and Wyeth's biggest product, rose 12% to $868 million. International sales offset weakening demand in the U.S., where sales in this category have slowed following reports linking antidepressants to increased suicide risk, especially in children. Sales of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel rose 76%, boosted by U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval last April to treat psoriasis.
Sales of Premarin, once the company's flagship line, slumped 21% amid weakening demand because of government studies showing that hormone-replacement therapy carried higher-than-expected health risks.
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