Merck 1Q earnings up 11%

04/21/06 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, April 21 (newratings.com) – Merck & Co (MRK), the fourth-largest US drugmaker, Thursday announced an 11% rise in its first-quarter earnings.

The Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based company said its net income for the three months ended March 31 rose to $1.52 billion, or 69¢ per share, from $1.37 billion, or 62¢ per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding onetime items, Merck’s earnings in the latest quarter stood at 78¢ per share. The company said its results were boosted by its cholesterol drug, Zocor, and the Singulair allergy pill. Merck’s revenues rose less than 1% to $5.41 billion in the first quarter, from $5.36 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Reuters quoted Deutsch Bank analyst Barbara Ryan as saying, "Merck's results were better even than the telegraphed number they had given a week or two ago." Ryan added, "Merck is just managing the business aggressively and they obviously are implementing cost-cutting initiatives."

Excluding onetime items, Merck raised its earnings guidance for 2006 to $2.32-$2.40 per share, from its previous projection of $2.28-$2.36 per share. The pharmaceutical company guided to earnings of 62¢-66¢ per share, excluding onetime items, for the second quarter.

Merck said it now faces more than 11,500 lawsuits related to its arthritis painkiller Vioxx. After having cut about 1,800 jobs in the latest quarter, the company said it was on track to eliminating 7,000 positions by 2008.