Perrigo Disappoints Investors

Perrigo Co. (PRGO - Snapshot Report) posted a 27% drop in quarterly profit and slashed its guidance for fiscal 2009, sending its shares down to a new 52-week low on Tuesday.

The generic drugmakers’ second-quarter net income was $25 million, or 27 cents per share. The results include a charge of 16 cents a share related to related to the write down of auction-rate securities. Even without the charge, the profit fell short of the consensus estimate of 50 cents.

Perrigo now expects to earn between $1.75 and $1.90 per share in the current year, down from a prior range of $1.92 and $2.

Shares of the company, which fell to a new year-low of $22.11 after the results, recovered some losses to trade down more than 18% to $23.78 at noon on the NASDAQ.