(Bloomberg) -- Bristol Myers Squibb Co. raised its 2024 profit forecast as demand for its new medicines suggested the company has gotten past a dip in performance.
Adjusted earnings for the full year will be between 60 cents and 90 cents a share, the Princeton, New Jersey-based drugmaker said Friday in a statement, an increase of 20 cents at the midpoint of its prior projection.
Bristol shares rose as much as 9.3% after US markets opened. The stock fell 12% this year through Thursday’s close.
Sales of Bristol’s newer drugs are encouraging, given the company’s recent struggles, JPMorgan analyst Christopher Schott wrote in a note to investors, “and continued outperformance here would be well received by investors.”
Bristol has faced difficult questions about its future as key drugs face stiff competition and new pricing pressure. The company followed four big drugmakers that lifted their financial guidance Thursday amid a focus on new, innovative drugs.
Good Momentum
All of Bristol’s biggest products beat sales expectations in the second quarter, pushing adjusted earnings to $2.07 a share, about 30% above analysts’ average estimate. The anti-inflammatory Sotyktu, the heart drug Camzyos, and the anemia treatment Reblozyl — three drugs on which the drugmaker’s future depends — outperformed expectations.
“We feel really good about the business,” Chief Financial Officer David Elkins said in an interview. “Across multiple brands, we have good momentum going into the second half of the year, and that sets us up really well for 2025.”
Two of Bristol’s biggest sellers — the blood-thinner Eliquis and cancer immunotherapy Opdivo — will lose patent exclusivity in the coming years. Cancer blockbuster Revlimid is already suffering from generic competition, while Eliquis will be one of the first drugs to face US government price negotiations in 2026.
Bristol spent more than $20 billion last year to bolster its pipeline. The $14 billion acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics brought in a treatment for schizophrenia that’s expected to win US approval this year. The company also bought RayzeBio Inc., maker of investigational radiation therapies, for $4.1 billion, and Mirati Therapeutics Inc., a cancer drugmaker, for $4.8 billion.
Bristol is working through a $1.5 billion cost-reduction program, eliminating about 2,200 jobs and abandoning 12 drug development programs. Chief Executive Officer Christopher Boerner, who took the reins in November, has said the company will return to sustained growth starting around 2028.
(Corrects timing of share move in third paragraph.)
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