Gilead 1st-qtr 2014 sales nearly double, fuelled by Sovaldi, as net income rockets

US antivirals major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) posted first-quarter 2014 results after markets closed yesterday, showing that year-on-year sales for the period had nearly doubled to $5.00 billion, up from $2.53 billion for the first quarter of 2013, a great deal more than analysts’ projections of $3.96 billion. Product sales increased to $4.87 billion compared to $2.39 billion for the first quarter of 2013.

Net income for the current quarter was $2.23 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share, compared to $722.2 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013. Non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income, which excludes acquisition-related, restructuring and stock-based compensation expenses, came in at $2.49 billion, or $1.48 per diluted share, compared to $801.9 million, or $0.48 per diluted share for the like 2013 period. This was way above analysts’ average forecasts of $0.56 earnings per share.

Excluding Sovaldi(sofosbuvir), Gilead continues to expect earnings of $0.63 per share to $0.66 per share on net product sales in the range of $11.3 billion and $11.5 billion for the full year. The company’s shares, already up 35% in the past12 months according to Bloomberg, gained 2.9% to $74.99 in extending New York trading yesterday.