(Reuters) – Animal healthcare company Zoetis forecast annual profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, partly due to a hit from a stronger dollar, sending its shares down 9% in premarket trading.
Zoetis, which deals with vaccines, medicines as well as diagnostic solutions for animals, forecast adjusted profit for the year to be between $6.00 and $6.10, missing analysts’ estimate of $6.29 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
It forecast annual revenue to be between $9.23 billion and $9.38 billion, below the estimate of $9.57 billion.
The lower-than-expected forecast was also in part due to the divestiture of Zoetis’ medicated feed additive product portfolio, certain water-soluble products and related assets, which it sold to Phibro Animal Health for $350 million.
The impact from the divestiture was slightly larger than we anticipated, J.P.Morgan analyst Chris Schott said.
For the quarter, the company reported an 8% rise in revenue in its companion animal segment to $1.57 billion, helped by demand for its flea, tick and heartworm combination product and pet pain products.
Quarterly sales of livestock products fell 3% to $726 million, also due to the divestiture.
Total revenue rose 5% to $2.32 billion for the reported quarter compared with an estimate of $2.3 billion.
Zoetis’ fourth-quarter adjusted profit per share of $1.40 was above an estimate of $1.34 per share.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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