Shares of Bristol Myers Squibb Co. shed 2.1% in premarket trading Thursday, after the drug maker reported a first-quarter profit that came up short of expectations, as the COVID-19 pandemic reduced revenue growth by 5 percentage points. The company swung to net income of $2.02 billion, or 89 cents a share, from a loss of $775 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share increased to $1.74 from $1.72, but missed the FactSet consensus of $1.81. Revenue grew 3% to $11.07 billion, but was shy of the FactSet consensus of $1.13 billion. Among the company’s top selling drugs, Revlimid sales rose 1% to $2.94 billion and Eliquis sales grew 9% to $2.89 billion. The company estimates that excluding COVID-19-related buying patterns from the prior year period, revenue would have grown 8%. For 2021, the company affirmed its adjusted EPS guidance range of $7.35 to $7.55. The stock has gained 6.5% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has advanced 11.4%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
