© Reuters. People pose with a syringe with a needle in front of the AstraZeneca logo pictured in this illustration taken December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Files
By Natalie Grover and Maggie Fick
LONDON (Reuters) – AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:) beat expectations with fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, despite lower-than-expected sales of its top-selling oncology and rare blood disorder drugs, as well as a decline in sales of your COVID-19 vaccine.
The London-listed drugmaker, which reports its results in US dollars, reported adjusted earnings of $1.38 per share on sales of about $11.2 billion. Analysts had forecast $1.34 a share on sales of about $11.3 billion, according to consensus estimates compiled by the company.
AstraZeneca forecast solid earnings and more modest revenue growth in 2023. Its shares rose 2.5% in early trading.
Sales of its top-selling cancer drugs Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Lynparza generated $1.34 billion, $752 million, $689 million in the quarter, respectively.
Cowen analysts expected the three drugs to bring in around $1.4 billion, $760 million and $695 million, respectively.
Other key drugs, including the rare blood disorder drug Soliris and Ultomiris that came with its $39 billion 2021 acquisition of Alexion (NASDAQ:), brought in $844 million and $593 million, below Cowen’s estimates of $885 million and $595 million respectively.
Fourth-quarter revenue was also affected by a decline in sales of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria.
AstraZeneca forecast 2023 adjusted earnings per share to grow by “high single-digit to low-double-digit percentage” and revenue to grow by “low-to-mid-single-digit percentage,” at constant exchange rates.
AstraZeneca shares have outperformed rivals in recent years, gaining 41% since January 2020. They were up 16.4% last year but are down 4% so far in 2023.
Of key interest to investors is the experimental cancer drug, datopotamab deruxtecan, which is being evaluated in a highly anticipated late-stage trial involving lung cancer patients.
Partner Daiichi Sankyo said this month that the results of that study were delayed to the second quarter from the first quarter of 2023.
UBS analyst Michael Leuchten said the stock’s relative underperformance this year was likely due to delayed test results for the lung cancer drug and a higher level of operating expenses that AstraZeneca noted last month. last year.
Investors are looking for signals from the drugmaker on margin trends for the year.
Under the more than decade-long tenure of Chief Executive Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca has had a phenomenal recovery story, but in recent years it has been driven largely by revenue, said Peter Welford, an analyst at Jefferies.
“We haven’t seen that really translate into an earnings update cycle yet. So there’s a lot of focus on margins,” he said.
The company on Thursday forecast core operating expenses to rise by a low to mid-single digit percentage, citing its investment in recent drug launches and the start of new trials.
