“Merck & Co. (MRK) reported first quarter 2013 earnings of 85 cents per share, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 78 cents. Tax benefits boosted first quarter 2013 earnings by 6 cents. Earnings, however, declined 14.1% from the year-ago period.
Revenues for the quarter fell 9.0% to $10,671 million and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10,997 million. Revenues were hit by the genericization of Singulair and a few other products and negative currency fluctuation (2%).
Including one-time items, first quarter 2013 earnings declined 7.1% to 52 cents per share.
The Quarter in Details
Merck’s Pharmaceutical segment posted sales of $8.9 billion, down 12%. Negative currency movement impacted Pharmaceutical segment sales by 2%. Products like Remicade, Simponi, Isentress, Zostavax and Gardasil performed well.
However, the strong performance of these products was offset by lower sales of Singulair, Maxalt, and Clarinex.
Singulair sales experienced a severe decline following its US patent expiry in Aug 2012. Sales fell 75% from the year-ago period to $337 million. We note that Singulair lost exclusivity in the EU in Feb 2013 and is experiencing a sharp decline in sales. The drug retains exclusivity in Japan until 2016….”
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