(Bloomberg) — Eli Lilly & Co.(NYSE:LLY) raised its profit and sales forecasts for the year after receiving a tax benefit in the first quarter.
Profit excluding some items will be $3.50 to $3.60 a share, up from a previous forecast of $3.45-$3.55, according to a statement Tuesday. Sales in 2016 will be $20.6 billion to $21.1 billion, compared with an earlier prediction of $20.2 billion to $20.7 billion.
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The Indianapolis-based drugmaker posted first-quarter earnings that declined as the company took a $203.9 million charge related to the impact of the Venezuelan financial crisis. Profit excluding some items was 83 per share, compared with the 85-cent average of analysts' predictions compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales of the insulin Humalog were $606 million in the first quarter, shy of the $730 million analyst estimate, and erectile dysfunction drug Cialis topped the $546 million estimate with sales of $577 million.
Eli Lilly gave additional first-quarter financial results in the statement :
Sales rose 4.7 percent from a year before to $4.87 billion, beating the average estimate of $4.85 billion. Net income fell 17 percent to $440 million, or 41 cents a share, from $530 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier.
