gilead sciences inc beat wall street’s expectations for revenue in the fourth quarter but the drug maker’s earnings were hit by 2 billion in unexpected costs most of it due to a legal settlement gilead’s gild stock tumbled 29 in afterhours trading on tuesday after the company shared results from the fourth quarter of 2021 which showed growth for its topselling hiv drug biktarvy and betterthanexpected sales of its covid19 drug veklury gilead reported earnings of 382 million or 30 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with 15 billion or 123 per share in the fourth quarter of 2020 gilead reported adjusted earnings of 69 cents a share against a factset consensus of 146 the drug maker cited a 125 billion legal settlement with viiv healthcare co a pharmaceutical company focused on hiv and aids that is operated by glaxosmithkline gsk  pfizer inc pfe and shionogi as well as a 625 million charge related to a deal with arcus biosciences inc rcus that closed in december the two charges collectively subtracted 118 a share from gilead’s earnings the company stated gilead’s revenue was 72 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 down from 74 billion in the same quarter in 2020 the factset consensus was 66 billion gilead shares fell more than 3 in afterhours trading following the release of the results after closing with a 03 decline at 6847 gilead’s topselling therapies are biktarvy which gilead said is the most prescribed hiv drug in the us and remdesivir the covid19 treatment long used to treat severely ill patients during the pandemic the drug which uses veklury as its brand name recently received authorization to be used for patients with mild to moderate forms of the disease if they are at high risk of disease progression biktarvy brought in 25 billion in sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 up from 20 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 the factset consensus was 24 billion veklury had sales of 13 billion in the final quarter of the year down from 19 billion in the same quarter in 2020 the factset consensus for veklury was 895 million the company issued guidance for 2022 saying it expects product sales between 238 billion and 243 billion about 20 billion in sales of veklury and earnings per share between 470 and 520 though wall street is paying attention to the company’s quarterly performance analysts also have questioned gilead’s longterm strategy including how the company will build out its oncology business analysts are looking at trodelvy gilead’s breastcancer and bladdercancer drug that was first approved by the food and drug administration in mid2020 and had 118 million in sales in the fourth quarter against a factset consensus of 119 million “the key question that perhaps 2022 will answer though investors are skeptical currently is whether gilead has a path to sustainable growth” mizuho securities analysts told investors in a jan 19 note gilead’s stock is up 44 over the past year while the broader sp 500 spx has gained 21