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Biotech / Medical : IVX: IVAX Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (65)	4/28/2005 12:34:31 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78

IVAX Reports 1Q 2005 Results; Rev Up 15.6% To $491.6 Million; Net Income $33.5 Million; EPS $0.12; 2005 Earnings Guidance Improved; 2006 Earnings Guidance Confirmed DOW JONES NEWSWIRES April 28, 2005 11:25 a.m. Analysts surveyed: 11 First Call EPS estimates can reflect either net income, operating income or funds from operations. The company's earnings figure is on a diluted basis. First Call assumes earnings estimates from analysts are on a diluted basis. MIAMI -- Ivax Corp.'s (IVX) first-quarter earnings fell 21% as operating expenses and selling expenses increased sharply. But results were were ahead of the company's internal views, causing Ivax to update its full-year outlook. The company now expects to come in at the middle to upper end of the previously issued range. In a press release Thursday, the pharmaceuticals and veterinary-products maker said net income fell to $33.5 million, or 12 cents a share, from $42.3 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The latest quarter's per-share income was lowered after an accounting change raised the number of diluted shares outstanding by about 10 million from 257.3 million a year ago. Ivax said the effect of the change will be eliminated in future quarters because of an exchange executed in the first quarter. A Thomson First Call poll of 11 analysts projected earnings of 14 cents a share. Quarterly revenue rose 16% to $491.6 million from $425.2 million a year ago. Ivax's cost of sales in the first quarter rose 28% to $288.8 million from $225.8 million a year ago, primarily from the company's expanded sales force. Operating expenses jumped 13% to $154.2 million from $136.4 million a year ago, driven up by costs to integrate recent acquisitions and to comply with new corporate-governance regulations. Ivax backed its full-year per-share earnings guidance of 76 cents to 86 cents a share, but said expected growth at its veterinary pharmaceutical subsidiary should help deliver earnings in the middle to upper end of that range. Wall Street expects, on average, earnings of 80 cents a share. In the most recent year, Ivax earned $198 million, or 75 cents a share. The company also reiterated its 2006 guidance of $1.35 to $1.55 a share. Wall Street's average estimate is $1.36 a share. Ivax also anticipates a six-month period of marketing exclusivity for its generic version of Merck & Co.'s (MRK) best-selling cholesterol drug, Zocor, next year. Earlier in April, the Federal Trade Commission urged the Food and Drug Administration to reject Ivax's petition for marketing exclusivity once Zocor's patent runs out next year. If Ivax gets exclusivity, and based on current U.S. brand sales of $4.6 billion, the company expects an additional earnings boost of $1.45 a share. Ivax shares recently listed at $19.10, up $1.55, or 8.9%, in composite trading.