Drug developer Merck & Co.,
Inc.(NYSE:MRK) is expected to post earnings of 93 cent a share on sales of
$11.57 billion, according to analysts’ consensus estimates.
In the year-ago period the company had
reported profit of $1.69 billion or 55 cents a share on sales of $12.02
billion. The company is scheduled to report its results on Friday before the
market opens.
The focus will be on its experimental drugs
which are in late stages of development and on its products which are driving
its growth.
Analysts and investors will be looking out
for sales of new products as well as new ones that it plans to sell or which
are in the pipeline.
Merck's popular asthma drug Singulair has
been seeing some reverses since it got generic competition in the United
States.
The Street will be interested to hear what
Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier has to say about it and about reviving its
sales.
Singulair was the world's 11th-best-selling
drug in 2011, generating sales of $5.5 billion. That's more than 10 percent of
revenue for Merck, the world's third-biggest drug maker by revenue.
Merck is also planning to file for
regulatory approval for a host of new drugs which have just finished clinical
trials. These are expected to hit the market between 2012 and end of 2013.
Some of the drugs which are on the anvil
are insomnia drug Suvorextant, anticlotting drug Vorapaxar, osteoporosis drug
Odanacatib, cholesterol medicine Tredaptive among others.
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