How Novartis’s Sandoz Business Has Been Performing Recently

Sandoz, Novartis’s (NVS) generics business, is a market leader in differentiated generics. 

Sandoz reported nearly flat revenue of ~$2.46 billion in the second quarter driven by a 2% favorable impact of foreign exchange and offset by a 2% fall in operating revenue in the quarter.

The above chart compares Sandoz’s quarterly revenues since the first quarter of 2017.

The segment’s biopharmaceuticals portfolio reported revenue of $363 million in the second quarter, a 34% rise in operating revenue driven by an increase in US and European sales following the increased demand of the drugs Omnitrope and Zarxio in US markets and Erelzi and Rixathon in European markets.

Retail generics reported revenue of $2.0 billion in the second quarter, reflecting an 8% fall in operating revenue driven by a 22% fall in operating revenue from US markets.

The anti-infective franchise reported revenue of $332 million in the second quarter, reflecting a 9% rise in operating revenue.

Due to competition, the segment’s US markets reported revenue of $692 million, reflecting a 16% fall in operating revenue in the second quarter.

The European markets reported revenue of $1.2 billion in the second quarter, reflecting a 7% rise in operating revenue driven by strong sales of retail products and biosimilars.

The Asia, Africa, and Australasia markets and the Latin America markets reported revenues of $341 million and ~$98 million, respectively, in the quarter.

The VanEck Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF (FVD) holds 5.0% of its total investments in Novartis, 5.0% in AbbVie (ABBV), 4.9% in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and 4.3% in Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA).