AstraZeneca: shares advance after positive guidance

(CercleFinance.com) - AstraZeneca shares are up sharply on Thursday after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it had a "very strong" fourth quarter, thanks to new product launches.


Product sales increased by 5% in the quarter, reaching 5.8 billion dollars. Over the full-year, product sales increased by 4%, helped by the performance of new medicines (+81%) and higher sales in China (+28%) and oncology (+50%).

Reported operating profit in the fourth quarter rose 57% to 1.1 billion dollars, on total revenue that is up 11% at 6.4 billion dollars.

The company also said that "core" EPS jumped by 22% to 1.5 8 dollar in the past quarter.

"Despite the somewhat messy fourth-quarter numbers, guidance for 2019 is likely to be well received," commented analysts at London-based broker Liberum.

For 2019, AstraZeneca said it expects high single digit product sales growth, in line with the consensus of 7%. The group also forecast 2019 core EPS of between 3.50 dollars and 3.70 dollars.

This outlook has clearly been welcomed by investors, with AstraZeneca shares currently up 3.7%.

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