Forest reports third quarter sales of $846.8 million beating analysts’ expectations

US drugmaker Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) released its third quarter 2013/14 results today showing that net sales for the quarter increased 24.9% to $846.8 million compared with the year earlier period, and exceeding analysts’ expectations of $827.3 million. The company's shares rose about 8% before trading started on the news.

EPS up as income increases

Forest announced that reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) equaled $0.07 in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to a reported loss per share of $0.58 in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Analysts’ consensus forecast were for EPS of $0.04. The third quarter of fiscal 2014 included a $45 million charge ($28.2 million net of tax) related to Project Rejuvenate. Excluding acquisition related amortization and specified items, non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) EPS for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 equaled $0.27 compared with a loss of $0.21 per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2013. In December 2013, the company announced Project Rejuvenate, a “cost savings initiative” with a goal of streamlining operations and reducing $500 million in operating expenses by fiscal 2016.