Watson Pharma third-quarter net profit falls

Net income fell to $63 million, or 55 cents per share, from $71.1 million, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings of 66 cents were a penny ahead of the average estimate of analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $662.1 million. Analysts expected $688.3 million.

The company revised downward its net earnings per-diluted-share forecast to $2.04 to $2.12 for 2009, from its July outlook of $2.13 to $2.21 per share.

But Watson affirmed its outlook adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.50 and $2.58 on revenue of $2.70 billion.

According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, analysts on average expect full-year earnings per share to be $2.55 on revenue of $2.75 million.

Total generic segment revenue was expected to be between $1.60 billion and $1.65 billion, while total brand segment revenue was forecast at $450 million to $640 million for 2009.

Watson's shares slipped 12 cents to $35.22 in early New York Stock Exchange trading. (Reporting by Debra Sherman and Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Derek Caney and Maureen Bavdek)