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Good morning and happy earnings season to those who celebrate!
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are slated to report their financial results for the last three months of 2023 and give Wall Street a first glimpse of their expectations for the year ahead.
Johnson & Johnson kicked off earnings season for the pharmaceutical industry this morning. It reported fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that narrowly topped estimates on strength in its pharmaceutical and medical devices businesses. The company also forecasted full-year 2024 sales of $87.8 billion to $88.6 billion and adjusted earnings of $10.55 to $10.75 per share.
Here’s what to expect in earnings reports from other big names in the space over the coming weeks.
Pfizer is slated to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 30 following a rough year for the company. Shares fell roughly 40% in 2023 as demand for its Covid products plummeted. Barclays analysts expect Pfizer to report another loss for the quarter, mainly due to falling revenue for the company’s Covid antiviral pill Paxlovid, related to a restructured supply agreement with the U.S. government. Analysts don’t anticipate any major surprises from Pfizer’s full-year 2024 guidance since the company already provided its forecast in mid-December. That outlook came in under Wall Street’s expectations.
Merck will report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 1. Analysts expect another strong quarter for the company’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda and HPV vaccine Gardasil, which helped the company beat quarterly revenue and earnings expectations repeatedly in 2023. Barclays analysts said to watch Merck’s commentary on the potential approval of a drug, Sotatercept, to treat a type of high blood pressure that affects arteries in the lungs and in the heart. The firm is also looking for more color on 2024 expectations for Merck’s Covid drug Lagevrio, which transitioned to the commercial market in 2023.
AbbVie will report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 2. Goldman Sachs analysts said a key focus for the upcoming results is AbbVie’s full-year 2024 earnings guidance following its proposed acquisitions of neuroscience drugmaker Cerevel and cancer drug developer ImmunoGen for $8.7 billion and 10.1 billion, respectively. Analysts are also looking for more updates on AbbVie’s expectations for the sales decline of its immunosuppressive drug Humira, which it lost exclusive rights to. The company’s 2024 guidance and longer-term outlooks for Skyrizi and Rinvoq, which are seen as the successors of Humira, are also important to watch, according to analysts.
Eli Lilly is set to report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 6. It will be the company’s first quarterly results following the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound, which uses the same active ingredient as the company’s popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro. Barclays analysts expect Zepbound to rake in $50 million in sales during the quarter. The firm is watching for more updates on Zepbound’s rollout in the U.S. and Eli Lilly’s expectations for the supply of its obesity and diabetes drugs – many of which experienced shortages last year.
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