Net
profit rose to $799.7 million, or 75 cents per share, in the
third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $500.6 million, or 47 cents
per share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, the company earned 89 cents per share,
handily beating the average analyst expectation of 76 cents per
share.
Revenue rose nearly 2 percent to $4.96 billion, but narrowly
missed analysts' expectations of $4.98 billion, as a strong
dollar weighed.
Sales growth took an 8 percent hit during the quarter, the
company said in a statement. Excluding the dollar impact and
lower prices, Lilly would have recorded a 12 percent growth in
sales.
Operating expenses fell 7 percent to $2.72 billion.
The company, which made the world's first commercially available
insulin product, also raised its full-year forecast largely due
to a gain from a change to its drug deal with Bristol-Myers
Squibb Co <BMY.N> earlier this year.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker said it now expected full-year
profit of $3.40-$3.45 per share from $3.20-$3.30. Analysts were
expecting a profit of $3.28 per share and revenue of $19.93,
according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of the company were up about 3.5 percent at $79.71 in
premarket trading.
(Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil
D'Silva)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](column_spacer.png) |
|