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UPDATE 2-Genzyme 2nd-qtr profit rises; raises 2007 outlook
(Updates with details, opening share price)
BOSTON, July 25 (Reuters) - Genzyme Corp. (GENZ.O) said on Wednesday that second-quarter earnings rose on higher sales of its drugs for rare and chronic diseases, prompting the biotechnology company to increase its 2007 forecast for the second time this year.
Genzyme's shares rose more than 3 percent in early trading.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Genzyme said net earnings rose to $139.9 million, or 51 cents a share, from $134.5 million, or 49 cents, a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, the company posted a profit of 88 cents a share. Analysts had expected earnings of 81 cents a share.
Revenue rose 18 percent to $933.4 million.
The company increased its earnings outlook for 2007 to between $3.35 and $3.40 a share from a previous range of $3.20 to $3.30.
Genzyme also gave a five-year outlook for the first time, saying it expects compound average earnings-per-share growth of 20 percent a year over five years. Sales of the company's newest product, Myozyme for the rare muscle disorder Pompe disease, rose to $46.7 million from $6.5 million a year ago following its launch.
The company's biggest product, Cerezyme for Gaucher disease, a condition that causes enlargement of certain organs, increased 11 percent to $283 million, while sales of Fabrazyme, a treatment for Fabry disease, which causes certain fats to build up in blood vessels, rose 17 percent to $104.3 million.
Sales of the company's kidney disease drug Renagel rose 14 percent to $145 million.
Genzyme's shares were up $2.03, or 3.36 percent, at $62.52 in early Nasdaq trading.
((Reporting by Toni Clarke, editing by Maureen Bavdek; Reuters Messaging, toni.clarke.reuters.com@reuters.net, 617-367-4165)) Keywords: GENZYME/
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