Amgen’s results miss expectations

Amgen Inc., the world’s most profitable biotechnology company, on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings that were essentially flat, missing Wall Street expectations.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the Thousand Oaks-based company reported a profit of $833 million, or 71 cents a share, a 1% increase over the $824 million it earned in the same period last year.

If not for special expenses related to employee stock options and costs associated with three biotech company acquisitions, Amgen said, it would have earned $1.06 billion, or 90 cents a share. On that basis, the earnings undershot Wall Street analysts’ expectations by 5 cents a share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

For the year, the company said its profit fell 20% to $2.95 billion, or $2.48 a share, compared with the $3.67-billion profit reported for 2005.

The company said if not for $1.2 billion in expenses associated with acquisitions and other special costs, its profit for 2006 would have been $4.6 billion, or $3.90 a share. On that basis, the earnings fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations by 3 cents, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

The results were released after the stock markets had closed.