Barr Pharmaceuticals Beats Targets

Updated from 7:44 a.m. EST

Shares of Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL Quote) rose Tuesday after the company posted second-quarter results that easily beat Wall Street's estimates.

Although Barr specializes in generic drugs, the quarter was propelled by brand-name drugs, whose sales rose 25% to $80 million vs. the same period in 2004. Generic-drug sales gained 9% to $209 million. Revenue based on alliances with other companies leaped to $36 million from $1.6 million.

By late morning, Barr's stock was up $1.54, or 2.3%, to $69.04. The stock rose as high as $70.25. Trading volume of 1.26 million shares exceeded the daily average of 744,134 over the past three months.

On a GAAP basis, the Woodcliff Lake, N.J., drugmaker made $95 million, or 88 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from the year-ago $59 million, or 56 cents a share. Revenue rose 26% from a year ago to $326 million.

Excluding one-time items, Barr's second-quarter profit was 85 cents, well above the average estimate of 78 cents analysts supplied to Thomson First Call. The consensus sales forecast was $316 million.

"Strong sales of both our generic and proprietary product portfolios, including the highest quarterly sales ever of our Seasonale extended-cycle oral contraceptive, and $36 million of alliance, development and other revenue drove the robust results for the quarter," said Bruce L. Downey, the chairman and CEO.

Seasonale reduces the number of periods in a woman's menstrual cycle to four from 13. Downey told analysts Tuesday that Seasonale will exceed the $100 million sales target for the fiscal year ending June 30. Seasonale produced $29 million in revenue during the second quarter, up 40%.

Downey said his company is in "active dialogue" with the Food and Drug Administration over Seasonique, another extended-cycle oral contraceptive. The FDA granted conditional approval in August, but the company hasn't provided details or a timetable for meeting the conditions. Downey also said Barr is holding talks with the FDA for a low-dose version of Seasonale called Seasonale Lo.