ZTS Zoetis Inc

   By Austen Hufford 
 

Zoetis Inc. swung to a profit on higher revenue in its latest quarter as the animal drug maker also raised its financial forecast for the year.

Shares rose 5.1% in premarket trading as results beat Wall Street expectations.

The company said sales in its companion-animal products business drove results, especially in the U.S. with increased sales of dog allergy drug Apoquel and new product launches. Companion animal sales increased 11% to $523 million as livestock sales decreased 2.5% to $673 million.

On an animal-by-animal basis, dogs and cats-related sales rose 19% as cattle, swine, poultry and horses fell. In November, the company bought fish-drug maker Pharmaq for $765 million. Fish brought in $39 million in the quarter.

Zoetis, spun off from Pfizer Inc. in 2013, makes vaccines and treatments for livestock and household pets.

For 2016, Zoetis increased its revenue and profit forecasts, which were also raised last quarter. It now expects revenue of between $4.8 billion and $4.9 billion, up from between $4.78 billion to $4.88 billion previously. The company also said it expects adjusted annual per-share profit of between $1.86 and $1.93, up from prior guidance of between $1.83 and $1.90. Analysts had expected $1.87 of earnings on revenue of $4.85 billion.

In all, Zoetis reported a profit of $224 million, or 45 cents a share, up from a loss of $37 million, or 7 cents a share, a year prior.

Last year's quarter included $266 million in restructuring and acquisition-related charges. Excluding those and other items, adjusted earnings were 49 cents a share up from 43 cents.

Revenue rose 2.8% to $1.21 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected 44 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $1.17 billion in revenue.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 03, 2016 08:27 ET (12:27 GMT)

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