$TEVA Teva Pharm Q1 profit down less than forecast, raises 2018 outlook

TEL AVIV, May 3 (Reuters) - Israel's heavily indebted Teva Pharmaceutical Industries reported a smaller than-expected drop in first-quarter net profit on Thursday and raised its forecast for full-year earnings.

The world's largest generic drugmaker said it earned 94 cents per share excluding one-time items in the January-March period, down from $1.06 a year earlier. Revenue fell 10 percent to $5.1 billion.

Analysts had forecast Teva would earn 67 cents a share ex-items on revenue of $4.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the full year it raised its adjusted EPS outlook to $2.40-2.65 from $2.25-2.50. (Reporting by Tova Cohen, Editing by Ari Rabinovitch)