Bristol-Myers Squibb Misses Expectations: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) as the drugmaker reported quarterly results that missed analysts' expectations due to generic drugs hitting the market and weighing on the company's bottom line.

Sales of Bristol-Myers' blood clot preventer drug Plavix dropped 96% in the third quarter to $64 million after customers turned to cheaper, generic versions.

Bristol-Myers said it lost $711 million, or 43 cents a share in the quarter, after taking a $1.8 billion charge for an experimental treatment for hepatitis C that did not fare well in trials. The company earned $969 million, or 56 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding the charge, profit was 41 cents a share, still missing expectations of 42 cents.

Plavix lost patent protection in May. Since then, Bristol-Myers has been trying to diversify its portfolio by acquiring and developing other kinds of treatments. Plavix had sales of $7.09 billion last year.

---

Barnes & Noble (BKS) is trending as the retailer revealed it suffered a breach of U.S. customers' credit card data after their PIN pads had been tampered with.

The company said customers who shopped at any of its U.S. locations as recently as September may have been victimized by the breach. Barnes & Noble said the devices customers use to swipe their credit and debit cards had been tampered with by the hackers to access customer information at 63 stores in nine states. Stores in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island were affected.

Barnes & Noble is advising customers to check their statements for unauthorized transactions and to change their PIN numbers. The company disconnected all the PIN pads in its 700 stores across the country on Sept. 14 after discovering the breach. Although the company has not confirmed how many accounts have been compromised, it said it is working with banks and card issuers to identify which ones have been accessed. Federal authorities are also involved in the investigation.

---

Nintendo is another popular search. The video game-maker slashed its full-year profit and sales forecasts as games on smartphones and tablets continue to weigh on demand for gaming devices.

1 2 Next › Last »