April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. said it earned 78 cents a share in the first quarter, as much as 34 percent higher than its forecasts, citing higher sales across its lines of medicines. The shares rose.

In February Merck, the third-biggest U.S. drugmaker, said it expected 58 cents to 64 cents. Excluding costs for job cuts and plant closings, profit was 84 cents, Merck said in a statement of preliminary earnings today. That's an increase of as much as 33 percent from its previous range of 63 cents to 67 cents.

Sales of Merck's newer cholesterol pills, Vytorin and Zetia, jumped 46 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.09 billion. The asthma pill Singulair climbed 17 percent to $960 million. Newer products Gardasil, a cervical cancer vaccine, and Januvia for diabetes are offsetting the $2 billion or more in sales Merck expects to lose this year after the patent for its former top- seller, the Zocor cholesterol pill, expired last year.

``With significant expected growth from the company's vaccine franchise as well as Januvia, we expect Merck's sales growth and operating margins to improve throughout 2007,'' said Chris Schott, an analyst with Bank Of America in New York, in an April 9 research report.

Vioxx Reserves

The higher forecasts don't reflect the establishment of reserves for any potential liability relating to litigation over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, Merck said in the statement. A panel of scientific experts voted 20-1 earlier today to advise the Food and Drug Administration not to allow Merck's experimental arthritis drug Arcoxia on the U.S. market, citing some of the same risks that led to the withdrawal of Vioxx.

Merck raised the forecast after a ``strong revenue performance across the company's range of products,'' said Amy Rose, a company spokeswoman, in a telephone interview. Further details will be available when Merck reports full first-quarter earnings on April 19, she said.

Shares of the Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based drugmaker rose as much as $1.83, or 3.9 percent, to $48.19 as of 7:07 p.m. in extended trading after the company's statement. Earlier today the stock added 71 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $46.36 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

The company also raised its 2007 profit forecast to $2.60 to $2.75 a share today, up from $2.40 to $2.55. Profit excluding some costs will be $2.75 to $2.85 a share, it said in the statement, up from $2.55 to $2.65 previously.

Schott, the Bank of America analyst, estimated Merck will have 2007 profit of $2.67 a share.

Merck shares the profit from Vytorin and Zetia with Schering-Plough Corp., the developer of Zetia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeanmarie Todd in San Francisco at jetodd@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 12, 2007 20:34 EDT