Irvine’s Allergan Inc. on Friday reported a first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations and raised its 2010 outlook at the lower end.
Allergan, maker of Botox and other drugs, posted a profit excluding special items of $199.6 million, up 18% from a year earlier and above Wall Street’s forecast of $184.3 million.
With items, Allergan earned $168 million, up 270% from $45 million in 2009’s first quarter, when it took restructuring charges.
First-quarter product sales (which are slightly less than total sales) were up 11% to $1.1 billion, in line with analysts’ projections.
Eye care drug sales, Allergan’s historical bellwether, rose 8% to $512 million.
Botox sales were up 11% to $331 million, while skin care product sales rose 32% to $50.6 million.
Medical device sales, including the Lap-Band for weight loss and breast implants, were up 18% to $198.5 million.
Allergan also offered outlooks for the current quarter and 2010.
For the current quarter, Allergan said it expects adjusted profits of $242.6 million to $248.8 million.
Wall Street had been expecting Allergan’s second-quarter profit to come in at $242.6 million.
Allegan forecast quarterly sales of $1.19 billion to $1.23 billion. Wall Street had been looking for sales of $1.2 billion.
For 2010, Allergan said it now expects to have a profit of $955.1 million to $967.4 million, up from prior forecasts of $948.9 million to $967.4 million.
The drug maker said its $4.55 billion to $4.75 billion in full-year sales forecast remained unchanged.
Analysts are expecting Allergan to post a full-year profit of $964.3 million on $4.78 billion in revenue.
