Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA)

[EZ2]

TEVA 35.52 up 156 ..Teva 2Q Net Income Doubles
Tuesday August 8, 7:34 am ET
Teva Pharmaceutical 2Q Net Income Soars on Acquisition and New Products, Beats Estimates

NEW YORK (AP) -- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., maker of generic drugs, said Tuesday profit more than doubled on successful launches of new drugs and revenue contributions from the integration of IVAX.


The company, based in Israel, posted net income of $488.4 million, or 59 cents per share, versus profit of $241.2 million, or 36 cents per share in the same period last year. Sales rose 77 percent to $2.17 billion from $1.23 billion.

North America accounted for 62 percent of sales, while Europe contributed 24 percent and International (primarily Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Israel) 14 percent.

The quarter's results are the first period to include figures from the company's January acquisition of IVAX. Excluding one-time charges, some of which were related to the acquisition, adjusted earnings were $541 million, or 66 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of 46 cents per share on $2.08 billion revenue.

The company credited its new product launches in the U.S., including cholesterol-lowering simvastatin and pravastatin, as well as the integration of IVAX, with the strong sales in the quarter.

Adjusted gross profit margin excluding inventory charges rose to 55.4 percent from 47.4 percent.

Teva expects 2006 sales of $8.5 billion, the high end of previously issued sales guidance. The company raised projections for 2006 earnings to a range of $2.15 to $2.25 per share, versus prior guidance of $2.02 to $2.15 per share. Analysts forecast earnings of $1.95 per share on $8.38 billion revenue.

The company also declared a quarterly dividend of about 7.7 cents a share payable Aug. 31 to shareholders of record Aug. 15.

Shares of Teva rose $2.67, or 7.9 percent, to $36.63 in pre-market trading on the Inet stock exchange.