Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, but gave weak revenue guidance for the second quarter, sending shares lower in after-hours.
The biopharmaceutical company forecast second-quarter sales in the range of $645 million to $670 million, below analyst expectations for $685.5 million. The company said adjusted earnings per share for the quarter will range from $1.65 to $1.75 per share, in-line with consensus estimates for $1.65 a share.
Fiscal 2010 are likely to come in between $7.00 to $7.20 per share, easily topping analyst forecasts for earnings of $6.55 a share.
In the first quarter, profit rose 89% to $110.6 million or $1.35 a share, compared with year-ago earnings of $58.6 million or 75 cents a share. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.76, up from $1.30, one year ago.
Revenue rose 15% to $596.6 million, up from $519.97 million in the first quarter of 2009.
Analysts had predicted earnings of $1.56 a share on revenue of $586.26 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
"We are off to a great start in 2010," said Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, in a statment. "TREANDA is now our fastest growing product with sales increasing 62% over the first quarter of 2009. Our diversified product portfolio generated record cash from operations during the quarter. This global portfolio coupled with our strong pipeline will continue to drive long term growth for the company."
Shares of Cephalon fell $1.60 or 2.48% to close at $62.81 a share. The stock was down another 6 cents in after-hours trading.
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