AstraZeneca Lifts Outlook, Plans $3.5B US Investment

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• British drugmaker AstraZeneca increased its full-year sales outlook on booming demand for its cancer and rare-disease drugs, and said it plans to invest $3.5 billion in its U.S. business by the end of 2026.
• AstraZeneca plans to invest $3.5 billion in capital to expand its U.S. research and manufacturing footprint, including $2 billion to create "more than a thousand new, high-skilled jobs contributing to the growth of the U.S. economy," it said. 
• The pharma giant also reported higher-than-estimated top- and bottom-line third-quarter results.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN) increased its full-year sales outlook on booming demand for its cancer and rare-disease drugs, and said it plans to invest $3.5 billion in its U.S. business by the end of 2026.

The company now projects fiscal 2024 revenue and core earnings per share (EPS) to grow by a high-teens percentage, up from a mid-teens percentage.

"Our company has continued on its strong growth trajectory in the first nine months of 2024," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pascal Soriot said, noting that the lifted guidance reflected growing demand for "medicines across oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease."

AstraZeneca's $3.5 billion U.S. expansion plan includes $2 billion to create "more than a thousand new, high-skilled jobs contributing to the growth of the U.S. economy," it said. The funds will go toward a research and development (R&D) center in Cambridge, Mass.; a next-generation biologics manufacturing facility in Maryland; "specialty manufacturing" in Texas; and "cell therapy manufacturing capacity on the West and East Coasts," although it didn't specify where.

AstraZeneca Posts Higher-Than-Estimated Q3 Results

The British firm also reported higher-than-estimated third-quarter results. The company posted revenue of $13.57 billion, up from $11.49 billion last year and above the $13.07 billion consensus projection of analysts compiled by Visible Alpha. Core EPS of $2.08 also beat estimates of $2.06.

AstraZeneca said it hasn't "received any notification that it is itself under investigation" in China after dozens of its senior executives in the country were implicated last week in an insurance fraud case. "We take the matters in China very seriously. If requested we will fully cooperate with the authorities," Soriot said.

The pharma giant's U.S.-traded shares, which were about 4% lower on the year through Monday's close, are down a further 1% in premarket trading. 

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