By Michael Erman

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Bristol Myers Squibb BMY.N on Thursday posted better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, but said its 2025 revenue would fall more sharply than Wall Street had forecast due to generic competition for some of its older drugs.

The company forecast 2025 revenue of around $45.5 billion, down from $48.3 billion in 2024 and below analyst expectations of $47.4 billion, according to LSEG data. It forecast 2025 earnings in the range of $6.55 to $6.85 a share, below the average analyst estimate of $6.92 a share.

The drugmaker also said it is expanding its cost-cutting program by an additional $2 billion by the end of 2027, bringing the total cost cuts under the program to $3.5 billion.

Bristol has already been contending with sharp revenue loss from its cancer drug Revlimid, which brought in nearly $13 billion in 2021 and just $5.8 billion last year due to generic rivals.

But Chief Executive Chris Boerner said in an interview the company will also be hurt in 2025 by the loss of exclusivity of other cancer drugs Pomalyst, Sprycel and Abraxane.

"We've been very clear about our focus, which is driving sustained top-tier growth as we exit the decade, and specifically increasing the velocity of growth in the last couple of years exiting this decade and into the next," Boerner said. "Our focus is working on making sure that the period in which the business is declining is as short and as shallow as possible."

Shares of Bristol Myers closed at $59.71 on Wednesday. The stock is up around 25% over the past year, driven in part by investor enthusiasm for its new schizophrenia drug Cobenfy, which was approved by the FDA last September.

The company said it earned $3.4 billion, or $1.67 per share in the fourth quarter, down from $3.5 billion, or $1.70 per share, a year ago. Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of $1.46 a share for the quarter.

Revenue in the quarter rose 8% to $12.3 billion, topping analyst estimates of $11.6 billion.

Sales of its cancer immunotherapy Opdivo rose 4% to $2.5 billion, while Revlimid sales fell 8% to $1.3 billion. Analysts had expected sales of those drugs to be around $2.5 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.

(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

((michael.erman@thomsonreuters.com;))