Solid sales for cancer and blood clot treatments helped Bristol-Myers posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings Friday.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) – Get Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Report posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings Thursday, while repeating its financial guidance for the coming year, thanks to impressive sales gains for its cancer and blood clot treatments.
Bristol Myers said non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending in March came in at $1.83 per share, up 25.3% from the same period last year and 3 cents ahead of the Street consensus forecast. Group revenues, Bristol Myers said, rose 8.4% to $12 billion, essentially matching analysts’ estimates as its blood clot treatment Eliquis saw sales rise 18% to $2.67 billion while Opdivo sales rose 11% to $1.98 billion.
Looking into the 2022 financial year, Bristol-Myers repeated its forecast of non-GAAP earnings in the range of $7.65 to $7.95 per share, with worldwide revenues coming in around $47 billion.
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“I am proud of how our company performed in 2021, helping more patients across our therapeutic areas, while achieving 9% revenue and 17% non-GAAP EPS growth, respectively,” said CEO Giovanni Caforio.
“2021 was a pivotal year for our company as we achieved significant regulatory and clinical milestones and positioned the company to successfully renew our portfolio,” he added. “I am confident in our ability to execute against our key milestones in 2022, including three planned first-in-class launches with relatlimab plus nivolumab fixed dose combination, mavacamten and deucravacitinib.”
Bristol-Myers shares were marked 1% higher in pre-market trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate an opening bell price of $64.70 each, trimming its six-month decline to around 6.5%.
Late last year, boosted its annual dividend to $2.16 per share and added $15 billion to its buyback program, citing a forecast for “significant free cash flow of $45 billion to $50 billion expected between 2021 and 2023.”
Revlimid, a cancer treatment, generated $3.33 billion in revenues for Bristol-Myers over the three months ending in December, an 1% increase from last year. Patents on the drug are expected to expire in March of 2022.
