Vivus Shares Rise After Positive Forecast of 1st-Qtr Earnings
<<Washington, April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Vivus Inc. shares rose as much as 35 percent in trading before the market opened after the company, the developer of an injectible impotence treatment (get it right Bloomberg!), said its earnings would higher than forecast.
Vivus shares rose as much as 1 9/16 to 6 1/16 in trading before U.S. markets opened.
Vivus, which saw sales tumble last year after the introduction of Pfizer Inc.'s blockbuster Viagra, expects to report first-quarter earnings of 12 cents a share, triple the 4- cent forecast of PaineWebber Securities analyst Charles Olsziewski, the only analyst polled by First Call Corp.
The money-losing company said the quarter's results were buoyed by a one-time $4 million payment from drugmaker Astra AB. The payment, which was booked earlier than expected, related to the approval of Vivus' Muse impotence treatment in France
Sweden's Astra AB earlier this month was acquired by Zeneca Group Plc of the U.K. to form AstraZeneca Group Plc, the world's biggest drugmaker.
Vivus had previously expected to report $2 million of that revenue in the first quarter and $2 million in the second quarter, company Chief Executive Leland Wilson said in an interview yesterday.
Wilson said he doesn't expect the full-year results to be different than he has previously indicated. The company will report earnings April 21.>>
BTW a block of 10,000 shares traded after hours at 16:20 for 5 3/4. No other blocks above 1,000 by Quote.com
Zebra
PS: No, this is not a fake Bloomberg article. BTW that extra 2 millon is only 6.7 cents per share, so they were going to make 0.05 per share without it, or breakeven without milestones. |
