Though the biotech sector is down in October, it shows promise for the long-term due to a wave of mergers & acquisitions and a positive regulatory backdrop. Strong Q2 earnings results have also added to the strength as most of the biotech giants such as Amgen Inc. (AMGN – Free Report), Gilead Sciences (GILD – Free Report), Biogen Inc. (BIIB – Free Report) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN – Free Report) have topped the estimates on both earnings and revenues  barring Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which missed on revenue estimates slightly.

Earnings in Focus

Amgen reported third-quarter earnings per share of $3.69, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.42 and improved from the year-ago earnings of $3.27. Revenues of $5.9 billion also came ahead of the estimated $5.8 billion and were up from $5.8 billion reported in the year-ago quarter.

Amgen raised its sales and earnings guidance for 2018. Better-than-expected second-quarter results and an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year led to the increase in earnings guidance. The company now expects revenues in the range of $23.2-23.5 billion compared with the previous prediction of $22.5-$23.2 billion. Adjusted earnings are now anticipated in the range of $14.00-$14.25 in 2018 compared with the previous projection $13.30-$14.00.

Gilead Sciences beat earnings estimates by 14 cents and but came in 53 cents lower than the year-ago quarter. The revenue estimates were beaten by $160 million. Year-ago quarter revenues were reported at $6.51 billion.

Gilead expects net product sales of $20.8-$21.3 billion compared with the earlier estimate of $20-$21 billion.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate on earnings by 27 cents and showed a year-over-year improvement of 45.3%. Revenues missed the estimate narrowly by $1 million and but saw a year-over-year improvement of 19.6%.

The company raised its earnings per share and revenue guidance for 2018. It expects earnings per share to be $7.45-$7.60, up from the previous forecast of $7.00-$7.15. Alexion projects revenues of $4.02-$4.05 billion, up from its previous expectation of $3.98-$4.01 billion

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