Gilead beats sales, earnings forecasts

MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Gilead Sciences Inc. on Tuesday said fourth-quarter net income was $791.41 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with $762.54 million, or 47 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Sales for the Foster City, Calif.-based biotechnology company were $3.12 billion against last year s $2.59 billion. Adjusted earnings were 55 cents a share, 5 cents ahead of the forecast from analysts polled by FactSet. Sales were expected to reach $2.85 billion. The company offered no earnings-per-share projection but said it expects full-year product sales of $11.3 billion to $11.5 billion. That sales projection excludes the impact of Sovaldi, Gilead s promising new hepatitis C drug that went on the market in December.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.