Bayer AG’s (BAYRY – Free Report) second-quarter 2017 core earnings per share from continuing operations was $1.99, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.87. Earnings were down 12.7% year over year from $2.28 per share.
Total sales in the quarter were approximately $13.4 billion, up 3% year over year but missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.5 billion.
Bayer’s share price has increased 25.2% year to date, outperforming the Zacks classified industry’s 10.7% rally.
All growth rates mentioned below are on a year-over-year basis and after adjusting for currency and portfolio changes.
Second-Quarter Highlights
Effective from the first quarter, Bayer reports results under five divisions – Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Crop Science, Animal Health and Covestro.
Revenues at the Pharmaceuticals segment increased 4.4% to €4,304 million backed by a persistently strong performance of the key products Xarelto, Eylea, Xofigo, Stivarga and Adempas. Also, the company expanded its business with the hormone-releasing intrauterine devices of the Mirena product family and benefited from the launch of the new low-dose intrauterine device, Kyleena.
Moreover, Bayer recorded an increase in sales of its diabetes treatment Glucobay and its Aspirin Cardio product for the secondary prevention of heart attacks owing to the positive development of business in China.
However, Consumer Health sales were down 2.2% to €1,542 million due to declines in sales in North America, particularly in the U.S., owing to the challenging market environment. But the company expanded its business in Latin America and Europe / Middle East / Africa.
Crop Science sales were €2,163 million in the second quarter down 15.8% year over year. The decrease was due to significantly higher provisions for product returns – specifically crop-protection products – in Brazil. In fact, regular stocktaking at the end of the harvest season revealed high channel inventories in the Brazilian market, which requiries measures to be taken to normalize the situation. Notably, Bayer witnessed a decline of €428 million in sales therein. Excluding this, the Crop Science was up slightly year on year, on a currency adjusted basis.
