Bausch Health Companies (BHC) reported a net loss for the third quarter, compared to a profit last year. On an adjusted basis, the company registered earnings, despite a fall in revenues. The top line, however, came in above analysts’ forecast, sending the stock higher in the premarket.
Revenues declined 3.7% to $2.14 billion in the September quarter but surpassed the market expectation. The top-line was impacted by a 7% fall in revenues of Bausch+Lomb/International, the company’s main operating segment. That was partially offset by a 2% gain in the Salix segment. Meanwhile, all of the business segments registered organic growth.
The healthcare company posted a net loss of $0.35 billion or $1 per share, compared to a profit of $1.3 billion or $3.69 per share in third quarter of 2017 when it recorded a tax benefit from the internal tax reorganization program. On an adjusted basis, the firm posted net income of $403 million for the most recent quater, up 10% compared to the year-ago quarter.
“In addition to another consecutive quarter of overall organic growth, the Company delivered organic growth across all reporting segments and generated robust cash flow from operations in the third quarter of 2018. As we look to the end of the year, we are maintaining our full-year revenue guidance range and raising our full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance range,” said CEO Joseph Papa.
The management reaffirmed its full-year 2018 revenue guidance in the range of $8.15 billion to $8.35 billion. The outlook for adjusted EBITDA was raised to the range of $3.30 billion to $3.45 billion from the previous forecast of $3.20– $3.35 billion.
The latest results are somewhat a repeat of the second quarter when revenues declined 5% but beat estimates. Then, the bottom-line was dragged by the weakness in the top-line and higher operating expenses, resulting in a net loss of $0.9 billion.
Bausch Health shares gained about 5% in the pre-market trading Tuesday after closing the previous trading session sharply higher.