(Reuters) – Bristol Myers Squibb posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday citing strong sales of established drugs like blood thinner Eliquis and cancer treatment Revlimid as well as newer drugs like heart treatment Camzyos and cancer cell therapy Breyanzi.
The drugmaker said it earned $3.7 billion in the quarter, or $1.80 per share, compared with $4.1 billion, or $2 per share a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected the company to earn $1.49 a share in the quarter, according to LSEG data.
Revenue rose 8% to $11.89 billion. That compares with analyst forecasts of $11.28 billion.
Sales of blood cancer drug Revlimid, which now has generic competition, dropped 11% to $1.41 billion in the quarter, but topped analyst expectations of $1.11 billion. Eliquis sales rose 11% in the quarter to $3 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $2.83 billion.
“The legacy portfolio has continued to contribute a significant amount of cash flow to the company, and that’s enabled us to deleverage and strengthen the balance sheet,” Chief Financial Officer David Elkins said in an interview.
“But the majority of the growth of the company overall … was really driven by the growth portfolio growing 20% versus prior year,” Elkins said.
Sales of Breyanzi and Camzyos more than doubled year-over-year.
Bristol Myers also raised its full-year earnings forecast to 75 to 95 cents a share, up from 60 to 90 cents a share previously. Analysts had previously forecast full year earnings of around 71 cents a share.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by Diane Craft)
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