Why AbbVie Earnings Were Not Enough for Investors

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 11, 8:17PM EST · Published Jul 27, 11:20AM EDT

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Why AbbVie Earnings Were Not Enough for Investors — © Thinkstock

When AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) released its most recent quarterly report early on Friday, the biopharmaceutical company said that it had $2.00 in earnings per share (EPS) on $8.28 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for $1.97 in EPS on revenue of $8.21 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $1.42 and $6.94 billion in revenue.

During the latest quarter, global Humira sales increased 10.0% on a reported basis, or 8.2% operationally, excluding a 1.8% favorable impact from foreign exchange. In the United States, Humira sales grew 10.0% in the quarter. Internationally, Humira sales grew 4.4%, excluding a 5.4% favorable impact from foreign exchange.

At the same time, global Imbruvica net revenues were $850 million, with U.S. sales of $693 million and international profit sharing of $157 million for the quarter, reflecting growth of 35.6%.

Separately, second-quarter global HCV net revenues were $973 million.

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Looking ahead to the 2018 full year, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $7.76 to $7.86. The consensus estimates call for $7.81 in EPS and $32.89 billion in revenue for the year.

Richard A. Gonzalez, board chair and chief executive of AbbVie, commented:

We are extremely pleased with the strong momentum of our business in the quarter and progress year-to-date. We’ve driven strong commercial, operational and R&D execution, resulting in top- and bottom-line results once again ahead of our expectations. This outstanding performance was driven by growth from several assets across our portfolio, including significant contributions from HUMIRA, IMBRUVICA, and MAVYRET. Based on our performance in the first half of the year and the tremendous confidence we have in our business, we are raising our full year 2018 EPS guidance for the third time.

Shares of AbbVie were last seen down more than 4% at $89.97 Friday morning, with a consensus analyst price target of $112.38 and a 52-week trading range of $69.38 to $125.86.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.