Gilead quarterly results beat estimates

By Deena Beasley

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences GILD.O posted fourth-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street estimates on Tuesday as its HIV drug sales rose 16% and acquisition-related costs fell.

The California-based drugmaker's adjusted profit rose to $1.90 per share from $1.72 a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates of $1.70 per share, according to LSEG data.

Revenue for the quarter rose 6% to $7.57 billion, also exceeding Wall Street estimates of $7.14 billion.

Net earnings per share rose to $1.42 from $1.14 a year ago.

For 2025, the company said it expects adjusted earnings of $7.70 to $8.10 per share on product sales of $28.2 billion to $28.6 billion. The low end of the company earnings range is above analysts' projections of $7.58 per share. They are estimating 2025 revenue of $28.42 billion.

"From this foundation of commercial strength, we are planning for the potential launch of lenacapavir for HIV PreP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) in summer 2025," Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day said in a statement.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide by mid-year whether to approve lenacapavir as a twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV infection.

Gilead said its fourth-quarter HIV product sales rose to $5.45 billion from $4.69 billion a year earlier, due to higher demand, higher prices and favorable inventory dynamics. Biktarvy sales rose 21% to $3.8 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $3.48 billion.

Sales of COVID-19 drug Veklury fell 53% to $337 million, which was short of Wall Street expectations of $397 million.

Oncology sales rose 10% to $843 million and sales of liver disease drugs rose 4% to $719 million.