Gilead's 4th-qtr sales and earnings beat expectations, as Harvoni soars

US biotech giant Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) saw its shares rise 2.2% to $84.48 in after-hours trading yesterday, following reporting of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results, that beat analysts’ expectations.

For the final quarter earnings reached $4.89 billion, or $3.32 per share up 34% from $3.5 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $3.00 per share, according figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter rose 16.4% to $8.5 billion, beating expectations of $8.2 billion.

Combined sales of the hepatitis C drugs recently-launched Harvoni (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir) and Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) of $4.9 billion, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $4.5 billion. Sales of Harvoni totalled $3.35 billion, compared to expectations of $3.1 billion, while revenue from Sovaldi declined nearly 11% to $1.6 billion, ahead of expectations, as Harvoni took market share