Amgen to Investors: 'Trust Us'

Amgen AMGN reported mixed results after the market close Thursday, with a variety of factors -- reimbursement, demand, stocking and foreign exchange -- affecting sales in what one analyst dubbed a "strange" quarter.

Those quarterly details, however, aren't the only things on investors' minds. In a wait-and-see position, Amgen is postponing its upcoming analyst meeting (originally planned for June 6) because it doesn't yet have the data to answer key shareholder questions related to its bone drug denosumab, pending litigation with Roche, and the label changes to its anemia drug franchise resulting from its meeting with the Food and Drug Administration's ODAC panel earlier in the quarter.

Looking to appease investor uncertainty, the company relayed confidence multiple times in its first-quarter conference call Thursday.

When asked how Amgen plans to meet 2008 guidance, CEO Kevin Sharer responded, "We let revenue lead expenses -- I want to give investors confidence that we have a sophisticated and experienced team analyzing [trends]." Sharer said he's highly confident in Amgen's ability to project the numbers, later explaining, "Maybe that's a long-winded way of saying, 'Trust us.'"

Shares of the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based biotech company edged up 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $42.50 in after-hours trading. But some on Wall Street were underwhelmed: "Overall we view the first-quarter performance as low quality, and we are retaining our neutral rating," wrote JPMorgan analyst Geoffrey Meacham in a note to investors.

The First Quarter

On a GAAP basis, the company earned $1.13 billion, or 94 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared to $1.11 billion, or 94 cents a share, a year ago.

Adjusted net income fell 4% to roughly $1.2 billion. But on a per-share basis, the company reported adjusted profit of $1.12 a share, compared to $1.08 a share in the year-ago quarter.

With some help of lower-than-expected operating expenses -- $2.07 billion vs. the $2.2 billion Wall Street consensus -- Amgen beat on profit, but revenue fell slightly shy of Wall Street views, decreasing 2% to $3.613 billion, from $3.687 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $3.624 billion.