AbbVie cuts earnings forecast due to milestone payments

The charge is expected to reduce AbbVie’s ABBV, +1.87% adjusted earnings by 14 cents a share, to $3.51 a share from a previous forecast of $3.65 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had on average projected $3.65 a share on revenue of $15.31 billion.

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For the year, AbbVie now expects $13.70 to $13.74 a share, with a milestone expense of between $3.51 and $3.55 a share, down from a forecast of $13.84 to $13.88 a share. Analysts had expected $13.85 a share on revenue of $58.29 billion.

On Thursday, CytomX Therapeutics Inc. CTMX, +40.78%  said it was seeing “encouraging clinical activity” in its trials with AbbVie for a cancer treatment candidate. A request for comment on whether CytomX was receiving any of those milestone payment was not returned by time of publication.

AbbVie shares switched between slight gains and losses after hours, following a 1.9% gain to close at $166.55, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +2.28% rose 2.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index COMP, +2.56% gained 2.6%.

The company said it “does not forecast acquired IPR&D and milestones expense due to uncertainty of the future occurrence and timing of these transactions.”

AbbVie is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Feb. 9 before the market opens.