(Reuters) -Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca on Thursday raised its sales and profit forecast for 2024 and topped analyst expectations for second-quarter revenue, buoyed by demand for its therapies for cancer and rare diseases.
Sales in the company’s top business, oncology, grew 19% at constant currency rates to $5.33 billion and accounted for 41% of the total, while other divisions, such as rare diseases and respiratory and immunology, also raked in double-digit growth.
AstraZeneca’s drug pipeline has evolved significantly under CEO Pascal Soriot since he took over more than a decade ago, and new technologies such as antibody-drug conjugates are making up a rising proportion of its portfolio of future cancer therapies.
“In the year to date we have continued to make encouraging progress with several disruptive technologies … all of which have the potential to drive our growth beyond 2030,” CEO Soriot said.
AstraZeneca now expects both 2024 revenue and core earnings per share to increase by a mid-teens percentage at constant currency rates.
The company previously expected revenue and profit to increase by a low double-digit to low-teens percentage.
Analysts, on average, currently expect 2024 EPS of $8.11 and revenue of $51.62 billion – translating to growth of about 11.7% and 12.7%, respectively, according to LSEG IBES data.
Total revenue rose 17% on a constant-currency basis to $12.94 billion for the three months ended June, while core earnings came in at $1.98 per share for the largest London-listed company by market value.
Analysts, on average, were expecting profit of $1.98 per share on revenue of $12.6 billion for the quarter, according to a company-compiled consensus.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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