Shares of AbbVie Inc. ABBV,
They rose 1.9% in premarket trading on Thursday after the drug maker beat expectations for the quarter. The company had a loss of $ 739 million, or 46 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2020. It reported a profit of $ 807 million, or 49 cents a share, in the same quarter in 2019. Adjusted earnings per share were of $ 2.34, before the FactSet consensus of $ 2.20. Sales increased to $ 10.4 billion in the quarter compared to $ 8.2 billion in the period a year ago. FactSet’s consensus for quarterly revenue was $ 9.9 billion. The increase in sales was driven in part by the strong performance of its immunology business, which includes its best-selling drug, Humira. The immunology business experienced an 8.1% revenue increase to $ 5.1 billion in the past three months. AbbVie in early May closed its acquisition of Allergan; He also said sales of Botox cosmetic filler, a long-time Allergan brand, fell 43.1% to $ 226 million as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He issued EPS guidance, including Allergan, for 2020 from $ 4.12 to $ 4.22. AbbVie’s shares have risen 8.4% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P 500 SPX,
Up 0.5%.
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