Merck & Co.’s stock was flat to lower on Tuesday after the company swung to a second-quarter loss as it booked a charge related to its $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences Inc.
The company
MRK,
swung to a net loss of $4.975 billion, or $2.35 a share, for the quarter, after income of $3.944 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the year-earlier period. The number includes a $4.02-a-share charge from the Prometheus deal.
Excluding that charge, the company’s adjusted loss per share was $2.06, narrower than the loss of $2.18 forecast by FactSet analysts.
Sales rose 3% to $15.035 billion from $14.593 billion a year ago, also ahead of the $14.442 billion FactSet consensus.
Earnings were hit by a slump in sales of the company’s COVID antiviral Lagevrio, which fell 83% to $203 million, as the world has increasingly moved on from the pandemic. Lagevrio is an oral antiviral authorized for treatment of mild to moderate COVID.
Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
also got hit in the quarter by a slump in demand for its COVID products — its vaccine and its antiviral Paxlovid.
Sales of Merck’s Keytruda cancer treatment rose 19% to $6.3 billion, while sales of the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil rose 47% to $2.5 billion.
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Overall, pharmaceutical sales rose 6% to $13.5 billion, while animal-health revenue fell 1% to $1.46 billion.
The company is expecting the acquisition of Prometheus to accelerate its presence in immunology and diversify its pipeline.
Prometheus is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on autoimmune treatments, such as PRA023, a treatment under development for illnesses such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Merck is now expecting full-year sales of $58.6 billion to $59.6 billion, while FactSet analysts expect $58.7 billion. Merck expects its full-year adjusted EPS to range from $2.95 to $3.05, compared with a FactSet consensus of $2.90.
The stock is down 3.9% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 19.5%.
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