Merck beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; narrows EPS and revenue guidance
Reports Q3 (Sep) adj earnings of $0.90 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.88; revenues fell 4.3% year/year to $10.56 bln vs the $10.65 bln consensus.
Co issues in-line guidance for FY14, narrows EPS to $3.46-3.50 from $3.43-3.53, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.47 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; lowers top end of FY14 revs to $42.4-42.8 bln from $42.4-43.2 bln vs. $42.56 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
The gross margin was 60.0 percent for the third quarter of 2014 compared to 62.8 percent for the third quarter of 2013.
Third-quarter pharmaceutical sales declined 4 percent to $9.1 billion. Expected declines occurred due to the ongoing impact of product divestitures, as well as the loss of market exclusivity for certain products, including TEMODAR and SINGULAIR