Earnings season is in full swing within the pharma sector with main gamers sharing their newest outcomes.
On Tuesday (February 4), Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) launched monetary outcomes for the newest quarter, offering vital information factors for evaluating funding potential.
Amgen stories robust This fall, will concentrate on trials in 2025
Amgen’s financial results for Q4 and the total 2024 yr reveal quarterly income of over US$9 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of US$8.87 billion. Income for the yr got here in at US$33.42 billion, forward of projections of US$33.19 billion, pushed by an general improve within the quantity of demand for its merchandise.
An 11 % year-on-year improve in product gross sales was primarily by the pharmaceutical firm’s robust efficiency in oncology and immunology therapies, together with gross sales of Repatha, which treats excessive ldl cholesterol, and Evenity, which treats osteoporosis in postmenopausal ladies.
Incomes per share (EPS) additionally beat estimates of US$5.08, coming in at US$5.31.
Amgen efficiency, February 4, 2025.
Chart by way of Google Finance.
Wanting forward, Amgen’s income steering for fiscal yr 2025 was between US$34.3 billion and US$35.7 billion, in keeping with the common estimate of US$34.53 billion. Part III trials of its weight administration candidate MariTide, a twin GIP and GLP-1 receptor modulator, are anticipated to start in H1 2025.
Whereas Amgen’s shares have decreased by over ten % year-on-year, they’ve elevated by practically 11 % year-to-date. The inventory closed with a marginal acquire of 0.05 % at US$289.01.
Merck beats on income, however Gardasil gross sales decline
Merck fell by practically 11 % forward of the opening bell on Tuesday after its Q4 and full-year 2024 financial results confirmed adjusted gross sales income for its key vaccine, regardless of exceeding gross sales and revenue expectations.
The corporate reported income of US$15.62 billion, beating analysts estimates of US$15.55 billion.
Earnings per share for the quarter had been additionally forward of expectations, US$1.72 in comparison with US$1.69; nevertheless, earnings per share had been US$6.74 for the total yr, in comparison with analysts’ estimates of US$7.62.
Gross sales reached US$15.6 billion in This fall, a rise of seven % from the prior yr.
Full-year gross sales additionally rose by 7 % to US$64.2 billion, pushed by gross sales of Keytruda, the corporate’s main most cancers remedy. Keytruda introduced in US$29.5 billion, representing an annual progress of 18 %.
The corporate additionally introduced constructive topline outcomes from a Part 3 trial evaluating a subcutaneous formulation of pembrolizumab utilized in mixture with Keytruda in grownup sufferers with metastatic non-small cell lung most cancers.
Nevertheless, gross sales of Gardasil and Gardasil 9, two HPV vaccines, declined by 3 % to US$8.6 billion.
Merck efficiency, February 4, 2025.
Chart by way of Google Finance.
For its 2025 fiscal yr, Merck expects full-year adjusted EPS to be between US$8.88 and US$9.03, and income to fall someplace between US$64.1 billion and US$65.6 billion. Analysts had been projecting EPS of US$9.13 and income of US$67.07 billion. The corporate additionally withdrew its US$11 billion gross sales goal for Gardasil by 2030.
“This gross sales vary displays a call to briefly pause shipments of GARDASIL/GARDASIL 9 into China starting February 2025 by way of not less than mid-year,” the corporate stated in an accompanying assertion. According to Biopharma Dive, CEO Rob Davis clarified within the agency’s earnings name that the pause will “facilitate a extra speedy discount of stock and assist assist the monetary place” of its Chinese language distribution companion, Zhifei Organic Merchandise.
“China nonetheless represents a big long-term alternative for Gardasil given the massive variety of females, and now males with our current approval, that aren’t but immunized,” Davis stated.
Pfizer discusses Seagen acquisition affect and 2025 outlook
Pfizer’s Q4 and 2024 financial results present income at US$17.8 billion, a rise of twenty-two % in comparison with the earlier yr and exceeding expectations of US$14.31 billion. Income, excluding COVID-19-related therapies, was largely pushed by Seagan’s portfolio of most cancers therapies following its acquisition in December 2023.
Nevertheless, full-year income fell barely brief at US$63 billion, in comparison with projections of US$63.6 billion. EPS was additionally under analysts’ estimates of US$0.71, coming in at US$0.63.
Its share worth fell by 4.3 % in early buying and selling and ended the day down 1.26 %.
Pfizer efficiency, February 4, 2025.
Chart by way of Google Finance.
Wanting forward, Pfizer will proceed to concentrate on rising its pipeline of most cancers medication in 2025, with three potential therapies awaiting regulatory approval in 2025. The corporate may even provoke medical trials for therapies associated to irritation, immunology, and inner drugs. For its 2025 fiscal yr, Pfizer is projecting income of between US$61 billion and US$64 billion, aligning with the common estimate of US$63.22 billion.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.