Amgen earnings top analyst forecasts

Amgen Inc. on Tuesday reported first-quarter net income of $1.62 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Thousand Oaks-based company said it had net income of $2.11. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions, were $2.48 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.07 per share.

The world’s largest biotech drugmaker posted revenue of $5.03 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Snalysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.92 billion.

Amgen expects full-year earnings in the range of $9.35 to $9.65 per share, with revenue in the range of $20.9 billion to $21.3 billion.

Amgen shares have climbed almost 6 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed nearly 2 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $168.46, an increase of 44 percent in the last 12 months.