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Bristol-Myers Squibb misses 4Q Wall St. view by penny; lowers FY08 view
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $89 million, or 5 cents a share, narrower than a year-ago equivalent loss of $134 million, or 7 cents a share.

On a continuing operations basis, the company lost $133 million, or 7 cents a share, in the latest quarter. Excluding a number of items, such as restructuring charges and an impairment related to auction rate securities, the company posted earnings from continuing operations of $654 million, or 33 cents a share in the latest quarter.

Net sales rose in the three months ended Dec. 31 to $5.38 billion from $4.06 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was for a profit of 34 cents a share in the December period on revenue of $5.24 billion.

For 2008, the drug giant lowered its adjusted earnings view to $1.60 to $1.70 a share from a prior projection for a profit of $1.65 to $1.75 a share.

Wall Street's current consensus estimate is for earnings of $1.71 a share in the period.

The stock closed Wednesday at $23.26.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/31/afx4597433.html