I keep waiting for Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: TEVA ) to falter. The company has been on a tear -- already up 21% year to date, handily beating the S&P500. It has to pause at some point, doesn't it?
That day won't be today. The company turned in another solid quarter, proving that bigger is better in the generic-drug world, and shares have moved up even more.
Revenue was up 20%, thanks to the addition of Barr Pharmaceuticals. Recent launches of generic versions of Shire's (Nasdaq: SHPGY ) Adderall XR, Novartis' (NYSE: NVS ) Lotrel, Bayer's Yasmin, Wyeth's (NYSE: WYE ) Protonix, and GlaxoSmithKline's (NYSE: GSK ) Imitrex helped boost North American sales by 36%. The comeback by Elan (NYSE: ELN ) and Biogen Idec's (Nasdaq: BIIB ) multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on sales of Teva's competing product, Copaxone; sales grew 21% year over year.
After adjustments, mostly for the acquisition of Barr, income was up 25%, but that was diluted down to a 15% increase on a per-share basis, since Teva increased its share count substantially to make the purchase. Still, not too shabby.
Teva now expects to recognize $500 million in savings from the acquisition of Barr, up from $300 million when the purchase was announced. Those savings should help the company grow earnings next year by a solid 35%.
Bolstered by the addition of Barr, expect Teva to go shopping for more extrinsic growth. Additional revenue will help with margins, but Teva needs to keep from overpaying; it's likely to have increasing competition for acquisition targets now that pharma has gotten in on the act.
Generic drugs may be a value, but Teva is no value play. It's more all growth, all the time. As long as it doesn't falter, I think investors should continue to be rewarded.
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