AstraZeneca (AZN.US) Q2 Revenue and Core EPS Beat Expectations, Raises Full-Year Guidance

According to the Zhijing Finance APP, on July 29, AstraZeneca (AZN.US) announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2022. Driven by the growth of all disease areas including COVID-19 drugs, the company's Q2 revenue and earnings per share exceeded market expectations.

Data shows that the company's Q2 total revenue reached $10.771 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31%, surpassing the market expectation of $10.6 billion.

By business division, oncology products generated revenue of $3.81 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15%; CVRM (cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases) products achieved revenue of $2.356 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14%; respiratory and immunotherapy products brought in revenue of $1.395 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2%; vaccines and immunotherapy products reached revenue of $981 million, a year-on-year increase of 7%, including $455 million in sales of the Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine and $445 million in sales of the Evusheld antibody combination; rare disease treatment products generated revenue of $1.801 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6%; other disease treatment products achieved revenue of $427 million, a year-on-year decrease of 17%.

Gross profit was US$7.773 billion, compared with US$6.029 billion for the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 29%; gross margin was 71.8%, compared with 72.8% for the same period last year.

Net profit after tax was US$360 million, a year-on-year decrease of 35% from US$550 million in the same period last year; earnings per share were US$0.23, compared to US$0.42 in the same period last year; core earnings per share were US$1.72, a year-on-year increase of 92%, surpassing market expectations of US$1.58.

Looking ahead, AstraZeneca expects total revenue for the full year 2022 to grow by 20-24% (previously expected to grow by 15-19%), mainly due to the anticipated sales growth of Evusheld offsetting the decline in Vaxzevria, while all other businesses continue to perform strongly. The company reiterated its expectation that core earnings per share will grow by 25-29%.

Moreover, AstraZeneca also noted that the core operating expenses for the full year are expected to increase by 15-19% (previously forecasted to rise by 10-14%), partly due to the acquisition costs of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.