Teva Pharma 2013 forecast misses expectations

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, offered 2013 earnings and revenue guidance on Friday that was below analysts' expectations.

The Israeli company said that it expects adjusted earnings of between $4.85 and $5.15 per share next year on revenue ranging between $19.5 billion and $20.5 billion. Adjusted earnings exclude the impact of things like acquisitions, restructuring and asset impairment charges.

Analysts expect, on average, adjusted earnings of $5.62 per share on $20.76 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Teva expects generic drugs to generate as much as $10.7 billion in revenue next year and for branded medicines to produce as much as $8 billion. The balance would be comprised of revenue from products sold without a prescription and from distributing products from other companies.

Despite the below-consensus forecast, U.S.-traded shares of Teva rose 20 cents to $40.42 in midday trading Friday.

Gabelli & Co. analyst Kevin Kedra said a conservative outlook was expected from a relatively new management team at Teva. Dr. Jeremy Levin succeeded Shlomo Yanai as CEO this year.

Kedra said a new CEO doesn't want to raise expectations too high and then have credibility questions arise if the company misses the forecast.