By Pushkala Aripaka
(Reuters) -AstraZeneca beat third-quarter earnings expectations on Thursday, helped by strong sales of its cancer, heart and kidney disease drugs, prompting London’s most valuable listed company to retain its full-year forecasts.
AstraZeneca is making big strides to achieve its goal of $80 billion in annual revenues by 2030, and is betting on its expansion plans and drug pricing deal in the U.S., its biggest market, to provide some relief from import tariffs.
Global drugmakers have pledged billions of dollars to boost their manufacturing in the United States in a bid to avoid tariffs.
AstraZeneca will also list its shares on the NYSE to gain access to a deeper capital pool.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker still expects full-year revenue growth of a high single-digit percentage and core profit per share growth in the low double-digit percentage.
“The strong underlying momentum across our business through the first nine months of the year sets us up well to sustain growth through 2026 and has us on track to deliver our 2030 ambition,” Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said in a statement.
AstraZeneca reported core earnings growth of 12% to $2.38 per share for the three months ended September 30 and 10% revenue growth to $15.19 billion at constant currency rates.
That compares with expectations of $2.29 per share in earnings and sales of $14.79 billion in a company-provided poll.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Unnamalai L in Bengaluru, and Maggie Fick in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Josephine Mason)
