Merck & Co sales and earnings fall, but latter still beat expectations

29 October 2013

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) posted third-quarter 2013 financial results, with declines in both sales and earnings, hit by generic competition, but still managed to beat consensus estimates on the latter count. Merck’s shares dipped 2.6% to $45.35 by close of trading yesterday (October 28).

Revenues for the quarter were down 4% to $11.03 billion, missing consensus expectations of $11.13 billion. Revenues were hit by the genericization of several products and negative currency fluctuation (2%). Pharmaceutical sales also saw a 4% downturn to $9.5 billion, with Singulair (montelukast sodium) plunging 53% to $280 million due to generic competition starting in August 2012.

Including one-time items, third quarter 2013 earnings per share declined 32.1%. Merck said net income was $1.12 billion, or $0.38 per share, down from $1.73 billion, or $0.56 per share, a year earlier. Excluding the one-time items, net income would have been $2.73 billion, or $0.92 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $0.88 per share

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