Health and Healthcare

Why Earnings Were Not the Biggest Disappointment in Valeant's Report

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Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) reported its first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Tuesday. The company said that it had $1.27 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.37 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for $1.37 in EPS on $2.38 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, Valeant reported EPS of $2.36 and $2.19 billion in revenue.

In its Developed Markets segment, revenues increased $186 million, primarily from the acquisitions of Salix Pharmaceuticals and certain assets of Dendreon and their subsequent growth under Valeant’s ownership of $513 million, primarily offset by declining volumes in the neurology portfolio and lower volumes in dermatology of $208 million.

As for the Emerging Markets segment, revenues grew $15 million, primarily from the acquisition of Amoun Pharmaceutical for $59 million, partially offset by a negative foreign currency exchange impact.

Earnings were not what cratered the stock in Tuesday’s session. Instead it was the outlook. In terms of guidance for the 2016 full year, the company expects EPS in the range of $6.60 to $7.00 and revenues to between $9.9 billion and $10.1 billion. Consensus estimates call for EPS of $8.47 on revenue of $10.86 billion for the full year.

Investment in research and development increased $47 million, or 85%, to $103 million in the first quarter, primarily due to the development programs related to the company’s dermatology product portfolio and programs acquired in the Salix acquisition.

Joseph Papa, chairman and CEO, commented:

The first quarter’s results reflect, in part, the impact of significant disruption this organization has faced over the past nine months. This has been a difficult period for Valeant and its stakeholders, and while there are some challenges to work through in certain business operations in 2016, such as our U.S. dermatology unit, the majority of our businesses are performing according to expectations.

On the books, Valeant’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.31 billion at the end of the quarter, compared to $597.3 million at the end of December 2015.

Shares of Valeant were trading down 20% at $23.03 Tuesday morning. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $60.22 and a 52-week trading range of $23.55 to $263.81.

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