Thursday preview: Astrazeneca to report decline in third quarter sales

(ShareCast News) - Astrazeneca is expected to report a drop in third quarter sales on Thursday after failing to prevent generic drug makers from bringing cheaper rivals of its best-selling medicine Crestor.Analysts expect generic versions of cholesterol fighting drug Crestor will have sent revenue down 1% to $5.87bn in the three months to September, down from $5.95bn a year earlier. The group is expected to reveal net income of $731m, down 5% from the $770m the previous year.Deutsche Bank expects product sales to decline by 10% at a constant exchange rate and core earnings per share to drop about 4%, due to the erosion of Crestor and divestments.Generic versions of heartburn medicine Nexium are also expected to have provided a drag. Astrazeneca is looking to boost sales growth with new drugs, including blood-thinner Brilinta and Tagrisso for lung cancer. Deutsche Bank said Tagrisso should benefit from continued US growth and its recent launch in Japan.The bank also sees Brilinta continuing to show solid growth with US prescriptions increasing 40% year-on-year.Deutsche Bank added that risks to Astrazeneca include failure to deliver cost savings, lower platform sales, pipeline failure and a fall in sales of pipeline drugs.Meanwhile, investors will be looking for an update following's last month's setback on its experimental cancer medicine duralumab. The company suspended recruitment for two large clinical trials on durvalumab while it investigates some instances of bleeding among participants. Thursday 10 November INTERIMS Auto Trader Group , Dairy Crest Group, Halfords Group, Mediclinic International , Mercia Technologies , National Grid, Vedanta Resources INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE British American Inv Trust, Ladbrokes Coral Group, Scisys INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE First Derivatives, Hadrian's Wall Secured Investments, London Security, NB Distressed Debt Investment Fund Limited, NB Distressed Debt Investment Fund Limited Ext Shs, NB Distressed Debt Investment Fund Limited Red Ord, Panther Securities, Whitbread QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Merchants Trust QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Boeing Co, BP, Brunner Inv Trust, F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B' INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Q3 AstraZeneca, Bank Pekao SA GDS (Reg S), Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS FINALS Mobile Streams SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Photo-Me International AGMS Swallowfield, Target Healthcare Reit Ltd, Tlou Energy Limited (DI), Urals Energy Public Co Ltd. (DI) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI), Howden Joinery Group FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Photo-Me International FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Abcam, Craneware, DX (Group), Go-Ahead Group, JPMorgan Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Jupiter European Opportunities Trust, Revolution Bars Group, Swallowfield