Why AbbVie Earnings Failed to Impress Investors

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) reported its first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said it had $1.15 in earnings per share (EPS) on $5.96 billion in revenue, which compares to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $1.13 in EPS on revenue of $5.97 billion. In the same period of last year, the company posted EPS of $0.94 and $5.04 billion in revenue.

On an operational basis, revenues increased 22.4%, excluding a 4.2% unfavorable impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

During the first quarter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Imbruvica (ibrutinib) as a first-line therapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). At the same time, the company received accelerated FDA approval of Venclexta (venetoclax) for patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL with chromosome 17p deletion. Separately, AbbVie announced that it received a Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) positive opinion for Humira (adalimumab) for the treatment of pediatric patients aged six years or older with moderate to severe active Crohn’s disease.

The company also announced that it will acquire Stemcentrx and its lead late-stage asset rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), currently in registrational trials for small cell lung cancer.
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In terms of guidance for the 2016 full year, AbbVie expects to have EPS in the range of $4.62 to $4.82, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 in EPS.

As for its quarterly product revenues, AbbVie reported:

• Humira revenues fell 4.6% to $3.58 billion.
• Imbruvica revenues totaled 381 million.
• Viekira revenues totaled $414 million.
• Lupron revenues fell 7.5% to $190 million.
• Synagis revenues fell 4.6% to $319 million.
• Synthroid revenues totaled $182 million.
• Creon revenues totaled $150 million.
• AndroGel revenues totaled $156 million.
• Kaletra revenues fell 27.9% to $133 million.
• Sevoflurane revenues fell 13.5% to $111 million.
• Duodopa revenues increased 16.6% to $68 million.

Richard A. Gonzalez, chairman and CEO of AbbVie, commented:

AbbVie delivered strong first-quarter results, including significant revenue and EPS growth, and margin expansion. In addition to our strong financial performance, we also continue to advance several strategic priorities, including the addition of two highly compelling late-stage pipeline assets through the Stemcentrx acquisition and BI collaboration. We also secured two important approvals with the expansion of the IMBRUVICA label into first-line CLL and the recent approval of Venclexta. We expect 2016 to be a year of top-tier financial performance for AbbVie and we’re off to an exceptional start.

Shares of AbbVie closed Wednesday down 0.4% at $60.70, with a consensus analyst price target of $70.22 and a 52-week trading range of $45.45 to $71.60. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down more than 4% at $58.20 in early trading indications Thursday.