AbbVie Stock Crumbles On Mixed Earnings, Slashes 2022 Earnings Outlook

AbbVie stock crumbled Friday after the drugmaker slashed its 2022 earnings outlook after taking an unexpected hit during the first quarter.

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The company said it incurred an 8-cent per-share charge in the first quarter due to research and development costs and a milestone payment. Despite that, AbbVie (ABBV) earnings in the first quarter topped Wall Street’s expectations by two pennies. Meanwhile, first-quarter sales came in light.

Mizuho Securities analyst Vamil Divan noted sales from several key medicines came in light. The list included blockbuster immunology drugs Humira and Rinvoq, as well as cancer drug Imbruvica and a migraine treatment called Ubrelvy.

“While we are fans of the AbbVie story, we expect today’s results to pressure AbbVie shares as people digest several important products coming in below expectations ahead of next year’s Humira loss of exclusivity,” he said in a report to clients.

In premarket trading on today’s stock market, AbbVie stock toppled 4.7% near 149.

AbbVie Stock: Revenue Misses Expectations

During the first quarter, adjusted AbbVie earnings climbed more than 9% to $3.16 per share. That beat analyst forecasts by 2 cents.

Sales widely missed expectations, however, at $13.54 billion. On a strict as-reported basis, sales rose 4.1%. Operationally, sales increased 5,4%.

First-quarter profit took an 8-cent hit due to an accounting change requested by the Securities and Exchange Commission. AbbVie passed that onto its 2022 guidance.

It now expects full-year profit in the range of $13.92-$14.12 a share. That was below AbbVie stock analysts’ view for $14.16. The company didn’t offer a sales outlook, though the Street expected $60.23 billion, a 7% increase.

Humira Sales Miss, Botox Mixed

Notably, several of AbbVie’s key products underperformed in the first quarter. Its biggest product, Humira, came in shy with $4.74 billion, down almost 3%.

The company is leaning on Skyrizi and Rinvoq to make up for declining Humira sales in Europe as copycat drugs, known as biosimilars, there champ away at its market. Humira is also expected to face biosimilars in the U.S. next year. But the other immunology drugs were split as Skyrizi beat and Rinvoq missed estimates. Both grew by double digits to a respective $940 million and $465 million.

Imbruvica sales were also light at $1.17 billion, below AbbVie stock analysts’ view for $1.22 billion, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond said in a report.

He also noted mixed Botox sales. As a therapeutic, Botox sales were short at $614 million, but as an aesthetic drug, Botox generated $641 million in sales and topped projections.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.

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