Bristol-Myers Squibb’s share price rises 11% on increased profit forecast

• Bristol-Myers Squibb reported strong earnings on Friday, raising its full-year profit forecast.
• The company beat both sales and profit estimates in the second quarter.
• Shares rose as much as 11% to intraday highs, the most since 2008.

Bristol-Myers Squibb shares jumped as much as 11% on Friday, their biggest intraday gain since 2008, after beating profit forecasts and raising full-year guidance.

The drugmaker’s sales beat in the second quarter was largely driven by its super blood thinner Eliquis.

Bristol Myers raised its adjusted earnings for the year to 60-90 cents a share, up 20 cents from its last estimate. The company also reported quarterly revenue of $12.2 billion, marking a 9% year-over-year increase.

“Our focus continues to be on improving the shape of the business over time. And the good news is that we have a lot of strategic levers to pull. We have a growing portfolio of young assets,” said the company’s president and CEO, Christopher Boerner. , during Friday’s earnings call.

Among Bristol Myers’ existing drugs, Eliquis posted 7% year-over-year sales growth. Cancer drug Opdivo and blood cancer treatment Revlimid also posted promising results and beat quarterly sales estimates.

However, the top three performers have patents set to run out in the next few years.

Company executives are adamant, however, that other drugs in Bristol Myers’ portfolio promise long-term gains and appear to be investing in more research and development to offset any losses. The company reiterated its plan to cut costs by $1.5 billion by 2025, which was announced on its last quarterly earnings call.

“We plan to reinvest cost savings into greater growth opportunities to drive greater patient impact and accelerate our sales growth in the second half of the decade,” company executive vice president and CFO David Elkins said on the call.

Next, Boerner said the company’s priority is to pay down debt and execute on deals already completed, including the launch of its schizophrenia drug KarXT, which the company expects to receive FDA approval in September.

“We saw good growth in the first half (of the decade) and we expect good growth in the back half,” Boerner said.

Bristol Myers is just the latest in a slew of other drugmakers to raise their earnings guidance this week.

AstraZeneca, Roche, Sanofi and AbbVie raised their profit forecasts for the year during earnings reports on Thursday. AbbVie, famous for its blockbuster drug Humira, saw its shares rise on Thursday after its recent earnings showed the rest of its drug portfolio is more profitable than expected after Humira’s market exclusivity expires in 2023.