Three Drug Makers Meet Expectations on Income

Three major U.S. drug makers posted first-quarter profits that matched or exceeded expectations Tuesday, as continued U.S. sales growth more than offset the effects of a stronger dollar.

Schering-Plough Corp. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. narrowly beat Wall Street expectations while American Home Products hit the mark--all posting double-digit earnings growth from the 1997 first quarter.

Another major drug company, Britain’s SmithKline Beecham, disappointed with a 7% increase in its first-quarter income as new-product sales offset the dampening effects of a strong British pound and higher research and development costs.

Schering-Plough said its net income rose 20% to $450 million, or 61 cents per diluted share, from $375 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew to $1.9 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 60 cents a share.

Sales of the company’s flagship Claritin line of non-sedating antihistamines rose 23% to $436 million. Sales of cancer drug Intron A rose 14% to $164 million.

Shares of Schering-Plough fell $1.63 to close at $81.13 on the NYSE.

Bristol-Myers said its earnings rose 15% in the first quarter to $927 million, or 91 cents per diluted share, from $810 million, or 79 cents, on strong sales of its cholesterol-reducing drug, Pravachol; cancer drug, Taxol; and diabetes treatment, Glucophage. The results beat analyst forecasts by 1 cent.

Sales grew 10% to $4.4 billion. The company, which also makes Clairol hair products, said revenue would have advanced 14% if not for the strength of the dollar overseas.

Bristol-Myers’ shares rose 88 cents to close at $107.25 on the NYSE.

American Home Products’ first-quarter profit rose 13% as higher sales of estrogen-replacement drug Premarin helped offset the loss of revenue from diet drugs taken off the market last year.

American Home, the maker of painkiller Advil, said profit rose to $651 million, or 98 cents a diluted share, from $576 million, or 89 cents, a year earlier. The results matched the average estimate of analysts polled by IBES International Inc.

Sales rose 2% to $3.67 billion.

American Home shares fell 19 cents to close at $94.38 on the NYSE.

SmithKline said its earnings rose to $483.8 million from $451.9 million in the period a year ago. American depositary receipt earnings rose 8% to 43 cents, below a 47-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research Inc. Sales rose 3% to $3.12 billion.

Before currency costs were taken into account, SmithKline Beecham said, its underlying drug sales jumped by 10%, while its consumer health-care and clinical laboratories divisions saw 7% increases in revenues.

SmithKline’s U.S.-listed shares fell $2.75, or 4.5%, to close at $58.13 on the NYSE.