AstraZeneca Keeps Forecast as Sales Grow on Stockpiling

(Bloomberg) -- AstraZeneca Plc maintained its earnings outlook for the year as customers’ stockpiling helped sales of key drugs advance.

The pharmaceutical giant kept its forecast of a mid- to high-teens percentage increase in 2020, according to a statement Wednesday. Quarterly earnings beat analysts’ estimates by 12 cents a share as sales of key cancer drugs Tagrisso, Lynparza and Imfinzi all exceeded expectations.

While many businesses have suffered from the pandemic, drugmakers’ sales have gained as hospitals and other customers tried to ensure supplies. As social-distancing measures have been put in place to prevent the spread of the disease, AstraZeneca has also been using more online meetings to inform doctors about new products.

First-quarter earnings were $1.05 a share, beating analysts’ average estimate of 93 cents. Astra rose as much as 2.6% in early London trading.

The company is also working with governments and peers to help find testing and therapeutic solutions for the virus. Two of its drugs are being studied for Covid-19 as part of a U.K. government effort to fast-track treatments, called Accord, according to a statement late Tuesday.

AstraZeneca gets about a fifth of its sales from China, where the pandemic hit first. The company’s manufacturing there has come back to full capacity as that country’s outbreak recedes. Sales in China rose 14% in the quarter, the company said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.