Alcon Earns $670 million, Beats Estimates (ACL)

Hunenberg, Switzerland based Alcon Inc ACL on Monday after the market closed released financial results that beat Wall Street expectations. Alcon Inc (ACL) reported that its 2nd quarter net earnings climbed 15.1% to $670 million, or $2.21 per share, up from $582 million, or $1.94 per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, the company earned $2.22 per share. The company reported that its revenue rose 12.5% to $1.89 billion. A poll of analysts conducted by Thomson Reuters showed an average Wall Street estimate of expected earnings of $2.03 per share, on revenue of $1.83 billion. President and chief executive officer Kevin Buehler said, "Our strong performance in the first half of this year was driven by the successful global execution of our operational strategies and was further supported by a lower first half comparison period. We have risen above the global reimbursement challenges in 2010 to achieve very positive organic sales growth at the Alcon group level and market share expansion of our key promoted brands on a global basis." Alcon Inc ended the Monday trading session at $154.24 per share. Analysts covering the company's stock have a consensus price target of $174.50 per share. Read more from Benzinga's Company news.