Roche reaffirms sales outlook despite weaker Xolair sales and looming generic competition

Roche reported third-quarter group sales of 16.1 billion Swiss francs, about $19.6 billion, a 7% increase that beat analysts' consensus estimate of 15.8 billion francs.

The beat was helped by a new resource-planning system, but analysts noted that the underlying performance was weaker, especially because sales of the allergy drug Xolair fell short of expectations.

Roche kept its full-year guidance unchanged, projecting mid-single-digit sales growth, and warned that several top products face upcoming generic competition that could pressure future growth.