By Deena Beasley
Oct 29 (Reuters) – Bristol Myers Squibb raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday, citing strong sales of its newer medicines, but lowered its 2026 earnings per share projection due to a hefty acquisition-related charge.
The US drugmaker said it now expects 2026 adjusted earnings of $6.35 to $6.55 per share on revenue of $49.75 billion to $50.25 billion. That compares with its previous estimates of $6.75 to $7.00 a share and $49 billion to $50 billion in revenue. The company took a charge of 60 cents in the quarter.
Wall Street analysts, on average, had forecast full-year EPS of $6.49 on revenue of $49.89 billion, according to LSEG data.
Shares of the company were up 2.3% in premarket trading.
Third-quarter revenue rose 7% to $13.1 billion, beating the $12.75 billion forecast by analysts. Quarterly adjusted earnings came in at $1.35 per share, which was also ahead of Wall Street expectations of $1.14.
“We delivered strong commercial performance with the medicines that we have today, and we also made real progress on what’s coming next across our pipeline,” Adam Lenkowsky, the company’s chief commercialization officer, said in an interview.
Bristol Myers said third-quarter sales of its newer drugs rose 12% from a year earlier, driven by higher sales of products like cancer cell therapy Breyanzi and anemia drug Reblozyl.
Sales of infused cancer immunotherapy Opdivo fell 6% from a year earlier to $2.37 billion, while sales of Qvantig, a newer subcutaneous version of the same drug, more than tripled to $334 million.
The company said quarterly sales of its “legacy” medicines rose 1% cumulatively, including a 25% jump in sales of blood thinner Eliquis, which it shares with Pfizer.
Lenkowsky said Bristol was working with the FDA with the aim of resuming enrollment in clinical trials of its experimental cell therapy zolacabtagene autoleucel in autoimmune diseases in early 2027.
In September, the company implemented a voluntary pause on the studies to review safety data, after Novartis halted eight clinical trials of its experimental cell therapy following three patient deaths.
Last week, Bristol disclosed the death of a patient enrolled in a trial of the cell therapy for treatment of relapsing or progressive forms of multiple sclerosis.
(Reporting By Deena Beasley in Los Angeles, Sneha S K in BengaluruEditing by Bill Berkot)
