Health and Healthcare

Biogen Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) reported its third-quarter financial results Wednesday before the market opened. The company had $4.48 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.78 billion in revenue, compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $3.80 in EPS on $2.65 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $3.80 in EPS on $2.51 billion in revenue.

In this earnings report, the company announced a corporate restructuring, or layoffs. Biogen is estimating roughly an 11% reduction in the workforce, but in turn the company is expecting to reduce the current annual run rate of operating expenses by about $250 million.

Dr. Scangos, CEO of Biogen, commented on the restructuring:

The decision to reduce the Company’s workforce was extremely difficult, but we believe these actions are necessary to fulfill our mission of bringing important new medicines to patients. We have several high-quality programs that are now or soon will be in Phase 3, and the cost savings from the restructuring will be reinvested to carry out those programs aggressively and hopefully to bring them to patients as quickly as possible. We are grateful for the contributions of our talented and admired colleagues and we will do our best to treat everyone with fairness and dignity.

As a result, guidance was updated to accommodate for this restructuring. For 2015, the company expects EPS in the range of $16.20 to $16.50 and revenue growth in the range of 8% to 9%. Consensus estimates call for $15.84 in EPS on $10.49 billion in revenue.

In terms of its products, Biogen reported the following revenues:

  • Tecfidera, $937.4 million in revenue
  • Avonex, $685.1 million in revenue
  • Plegridy, $99.7 million in revenue
  • Tsabri, $479.7 million in revenue
  • Fampyra, $21 million in revenue
  • Alprolix, $65.7 million in revenue
  • Eloctate, $90.6 million in revenue
  • Fumaderm, $12.5 million in revenue

On the books, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $5.84 billion at the end of the third quarter, compared to $1.85 billion at the end of December 2014.

Just after Wednesday’s opening bell, shares were up 6.4% at $282.68. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $374.07 and a 52-week trading range of $254.00 to $480.18.

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