DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Hospira Inc.'s (HSP) third-quarter profit dropped 39%, although
core results slid less than analysts feared they would.
The company reduced its sales-growth forecast for the year to 2%
to 3% on a constant-currency basis from 3% to 5%. However, Hospira
raised the low end of its profit target.
The maker of medical devices and injectable drugs has seen
revenue rise in recent quarters, but the latest period was crimped
by divestitures and the lack of sales from colon-cancer drug
oxaliplatin in the U.S. Hospira stopped selling the drug in June as
part of a legal settlement with Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY, SAN.FR),
which makes the branded version of the colon-cancer treatment.
Hospira posted a profit of $71.4 million, or 42 cents a share,
down from $116.2 million, or 71 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items such as its Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc.
acquisition and restructuring impacts, earnings fell to 74 cents
from 90 cents as revenue slid 5.8% to $949.3 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently estimated
earnings of 70 cents on $945 million in revenue.
Gross margin narrowed to 38.7% from 39.3%.
Sales of specialty injectables--Hospira's biggest revenue
source--slid 4.1% in constant currencies, while medication
management systems sales dropped 8.1%.
Sales were down 5.6% in the Americas and declined 2.5% and 11%,
respectively, in the Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia
Pacific regions.
Shares closed Monday at $58.53 and were inactive premarket. The
stock has gained 15% this year.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240;
matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com