Earnings Hangover Sacks Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Stock, Sending Shares Down 10%

Shares of embattled drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) are pulling an about-face after initially moving higher following the release of its second-quarter earnings results before the opening bell on Tuesday, August 8. While no major developments occurred overnight, it would appear that further digestion of yesterday's earnings news still has Wall Street and investors worried. As of 3:05 p.m. EDT, Valeant's stock was lower by 10%.

For the quarter, Valeant reported $2.23 billion in sales, which was a nearly 8% year-on-year decline, while its GAAP loss declined significantly to just $0.11 a share from $0.88 per share in Q2 2016. The net loss was considerably narrower than Wall Street had expected, and total sales were in line with expectations. When combined with Valeant's debt-reduction efforts, which are on track to slash at least $5 billion in total debt off its previous load of more than $32 billion by Feb. 2018, investors viewed the headline figures as good.

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Source: Fool.com