AbbVie shares took a hit after costs related to the drugmaker's acquisition of Apogee Therapeutics forced a cut to its full-year profit outlook.
Second-quarter revenue jumped 10% to nearly $17 billion, beating the $16.8 billion consensus estimate of analysts polled by FactSet. Adjusted earnings came in at $3.65 a share, narrowly ahead of Wall Street's call for $3.60.
But Abbvie's revised outlook nudged shares 2.1% lower on Friday. The drugmaker trimmed its guidance to account for its acquisition of Massachusetts-based Apogee, which is slated to close in the third quarter.
AbbVie forecasts adjusted earnings of $13.87 to $14.07 a share, down from $13.91 to $14.11 a share. Analysts were looking for $14.06.
The company's immunology portfolio commanded the lion's share of total second-quarter revenue at $8.8 billion. Blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Skyrizi was a standout again -- bringing in $5.5 billion worldwide, up 24% from the prior year.
Revenue for Rinvoq, another major anti-inflammatory drug, jumped 25% to $2.5 billion. Humira revenue, however, kept falling -- 34% to $756 million in the quarter. The drug lost key patent protections in 2023 and has steadily lost market share to biosimilars since then.
Ahead of the report, Goldman Sachs analyst Asad Haider noted that "narrative swings" were under way at AbbVie. It headed into earnings "from a relatively stronger foundational base, with the investment narrative becoming increasingly anchored to the emergence of new revenue drivers," he wrote.
Haider highlighted the Apogee acquisition and its burgeoning immunology pipeline, with several candidates that boast higher efficacy than the drugmaker's existing blockbusters, Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
Abbvie's move to buy Apogee for nearly $11 billion, announced in June, snagged a promising lineup of clinical-stage candidates for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Apogee's lead candidate, zumilokibart, targets patients with atopic dermatitis. Last month, analysts at BMO Capital Markets noted that the drug appears slightly more effective than Regeneron and Sanofi's Dupixent and provides a more convenient dosing schedule.
Rather than branching into new therapeutic areas, AbbVie is doubling down on what works. The latest quarter is evidence that strategy is pay off -- at least right now. J.P. Morgan analysts noted that revenue for both Skyrizi and Rinvoq was modestly ahead of estimates.
Growth comes with short-term costs, however. The Apogee deal will dent 2026 earnings by 14 cents a share, though the drugmaker expects outperformance in other areas to offset most of it.
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