(Reuters) — Hospira (NYSE:HSP) reported a quarterly profit that handily beat analysts’ estimates as the company raised prices and sold more of its injectables.

Hospira’s shares rose 3% in pre-market trading and hit a 52-week high of $57.84 today. HSP shares were trading at $57.60 as of about 11 a.m. Eastern today, up 8.5%.

The company’s performance in the 3rd quarter was closely watched by investors due to generic competition to its injectable sedative, Precedex.

Precedex accounted for 11% of Hospira’s global net sales of $4.1 billion in 2013.

Hospira raised the lower end of its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $2.40 per share from $2.30. The top end of the range was unchanged at $2.50.

"An open question is the contribution of Precedex in its final quarter as standalone, but otherwise these results are certainly a positive surprise," Bernstein Research analyst Aaron Gal wrote in a note.

Hospira’s net income rose to $158.6 million, or 92¢ per share in the 3 months ended Sept. 30, from $1.9 million, or 1¢ per share, a year earlier.

The jump was mainly due to a $106.3 million gain on the sale of its clinical surveillance software business, Theradoc.

On an adjusted basis, Hospira earned 74¢ per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 53¢ per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 2.0% to $1.2 billion from $1 billion.

Sales of injectable drugs rose 13.9% and accounted for about 68% of total sales.