Valeant Pharmaceuticals International on Monday reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations and reaffirmed its 2010 profit outlook.
The Aliso Viejo drug maker said its fourth-quarter profit came in at $55.4 million, excluding non-recurring items. Analysts had expected Valeant to make $48.8 million in the quarter.
Quarterly revenue jumped 31% to $240.5 million, surpassing Wall Street’s projection of $221.7 million.
Valeant said that its product sales in specialty pharmaceuticals rose 34% to $119.3 million, offsetting an expected 48% decrease to $8.7 million in royalties on hepatitis C treatment ribavirin.
Valeant officials have made moves to diversify the company away from ribavirin, the company’s historical bellwether.
The drug maker reaffirmed its full-year profit forecast of $202.7 million to $223.4 million. It didn’t offer a revenue estimate in its news release, nor an outlook for the current quarter.
Wall Street expects Valeant to make $212.6 million on revenue of $957 million in 2010.
