Amgen Reports Profit Up 18% on Y2K Buying

Amgen Inc., the world’s No. 1 biotech company, said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 18% as customers stockpiled drugs to avoid any shortages related to Y2K problems.

Net income rose to $281.6 million, or 26 cents a share, from $238.6 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. The company was expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents, the average forecast of analysts.

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said it expects earnings to increase 3% to 5% this year, after soaring 24% in 1999. Analysts attributed the slower growth to last year’s Y2K stockpiling of the anemia drug Epogen and the white-blood-cell booster Neupogen along with plans to boost spending this year to prepare for the introduction of several new products in 2001.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 23% to $926.9 from $755.5 million.

Without Y2K stockpiling, earnings would have risen 7.7% from a year earlier, according to numbers provided by Amgen.

Fourth-quarter sales of Epogen rose 25% to $488 million, from $391 million a year earlier. Neupogen sales rose 18% to $353 million, from $298 million.

Amgen shares rose 13 cents to close at $69.38 on Nasdaq.

Amgen said it submitted applications for U.S. approval of two new drugs, NESP and Kineret, during the fourth quarter. Although analysts have modest expectations for sales of the rheumatoid arthritis drug Kineret, they expect NESP--essentially an improved Epogen--to become a blockbuster with sales in excess of $2 billion a year.

The company also said it has completed two late-stage trials of abarelix, an experimental treatment for prostate cancer that Amgen licensed from closely held Praecis Pharmaceuticals.

At a Glance

Other earnings, excluding one-time gains or charges unless noted, include:

* Avery Dennison Corp., the Pasadena-based maker of labels and other adhesive products, reported record fourth-quarter net income of $67.3 million, or 67 cents per share, compared with $55.9 million, or 54 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 7% to $944.8 million from $884.6 million. For the year, Avery Dennison earned $257.8 million, or $2.54 a share, compared with $223.3 million, or $2.15, in fiscal year 1999. Sales grew 9% to a record $3.8 billion from $3.5 billion the prior year.

* Sanwa Bank California, the Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Japan’s Sanwa Bank, said fourth-quarter net income rose 24% to $30.5 million, from $24.5 million a year ago. For the year, Sanwa reported net income of $118.5 million compared with $103.6 million in 1998.

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Earnings Report

A sampling of companies reporting quarterly earnings Tuesday and expected to report today, ranked by year-over-year earnings-per-share (EPS) growth, compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Reporting Tuesday

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Analysts’ % above/ Year- Ticker est. Actual below ago Company symbol EPS EPS estimate qtr. Scientific-Atlanta SFA $0.33 $0.36 +9% $0.16 Nortel Networks NT 0.45 0.55 +22 0.36 Equifax EFX 0.45 0.45 0 0.31 Tellabs TLAB 0.40 0.41 +2 0.30 Tupperware TUP 0.73 0.76 +4 0.64 Kimberly-Clark KMB 0.76 0.79 +4 0.68 Brunswick BC 0.37 0.38 +3 0.34 Johnson & Johnson JNJ 0.55 0.56 +2 0.50 Praxair PX 0.70 0.70 0 0.66 Bemis BMS 0.62 0.63 +2 0.60 New Centuries Energy NCE 0.85 0.85 0 0.86 Ceridian CEN 0.25 0.25 0 0.27 Foster Wheeler FWC 0.28 0.31 +11 0.41 Allegheny Tech. ATI 0.31 0.22 -29 0.45 Coca-Cola Enterprises CCE -0.07 -0.04 +43 -0.09 LSI Logic LSI 0.43 0.47 +9 0.00

Year- over-year Company % change Scientific-Atlanta +125% Nortel Networks +53 Equifax +45 Tellabs +37 Tupperware +19 Kimberly-Clark +16 Brunswick +12 Johnson & Johnson +12 Praxair +6 Bemis +5 New Centuries Energy -1 Ceridian -7 Foster Wheeler -24 Allegheny Tech. -51 Coca-Cola Enterprises NM LSI Logic NM

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Expected Today

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Ticker Analysts’ Year-ago Predicted Company symbol estimated EPS quarter pct. chg. Georgia-Pacific GP $0.99 $0.15 +560% Texaco TX 0.68 0.27 +152% T. Rowe Price TROW 0.45 0.35 +29% Coca-Cola KO 0.30 0.24 +25% American General AGC 1.17 0.95 +23% Coastal CGP 0.78 0.64 +22% Minn. Mining & Mfg MMM 1.02 0.86 +19% AllTel AT 0.64 0.55 +16% Merck MRK 0.66 0.58 +14% Sempra Energy SRE 0.42 0.37 +14% McDonald’s MCD 0.36 0.32 +13% Quintiles Transnational QTRN 0.30 0.27 +11% Sara Lee SLE 0.42 0.39 +8% Ford Motor F 1.45 1.35 +7% US West USW 0.78 0.73 +7% Wrigley WWY 0.64 0.61 +5% DuPont DD 0.54 0.60 -10% Polaroid PRD 0.64 -0.09 NM

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Notes: NA = not available NM = not meaningful. A loss in any period makes percentage change not calculable.

Year-over-year growth and percentage changes are based on earnings-per-share figures and may differ from percentage changes based on total profit.

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