The PAXLOVID antiviral medications nirmatrelvir co-packaged with ritonavir were developed by Pfizer to treat the virus.
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Pfizer on Tuesday reported third-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that blew past expectations as the corporate’s Covid vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid helped boost sales.
The pharmaceutical giant also hiked its full-year outlook and now expects to book adjusted earnings per share of $2.75 to $2.95, up from its previous guidance of two.45 to $2.65 per share.Â
Pfizer now expects revenue in a spread of $61 billion to $64 billion, up from a previous revenue forecast of between $59.5 billion and $62.5 billion. That features roughly $5 billion in expected revenue from its Covid vaccine and $5.5 billion from Paxlovid.
The outcomes are a much-needed win for Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, who’s facing recent pressure from activist investor Starboard Value. The firm has a roughly $1 billion stake within the pharmaceutical company.Â
Still, shares of Pfizer fell greater than 2% on Tuesday.
Here’s what the company reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Â
- Earnings per share:Â $1.06 adjusted vs. 62 cents expected
- Revenue: $17.7 billion vs. $14.95 billion expected
The corporate booked third-quarter net income of $4.47 billion, or 78 cents per share. That compares with a net lack of $2.38 billion, or 42 cents per share, in the course of the same period a yr ago. Excluding certain items, including restructuring charges and costs related to intangible assets, the corporate posted earnings per share of $1.06 for the quarter.
Pfizer reported revenue of $17.7 billion for the third quarter, up 31% from the identical period a yr ago.
It’s a critical quarterly report for Pfizer, which is cutting costs as it really works to get well from the rapid decline of its Covid business and share price during the last two years. The drugmaker’s shares are trading at about half of their pandemic-era high, putting the corporate’s market cap at roughly $163 billion.Â
Activist pressure
Notably in the course of the quarter, Pfizer withdrew from world markets a critical sickle cell drug it had acquired in a $5.4 billion deal for Global Blood Therapeutics. Starboard is asking for an enormous overhaul at Pfizer, saying that the corporate must be more disciplined in its investments.
Bourla said Tuesday he and other executives met with Starboard two weeks ago, and called it “constructive and cordial.”Â
Pfizer agrees with a few of the points Starboard raised, but has “vastly different views on many others,” Bourla said. For instance, Starboard challenged Pfizer’s capital deployment for business development. But Pfizer believes its deals will bring significant shareholder returns, Bourla said.
Bourla pointed to changes Pfizer has implemented during the last 10 months, comparable to appointing recent executives and separating its U.S. and international businesses.
Still, he said, “We’ll engage productively with our shareholders, including Starboard” and consider “all good ideas which can be offered.”
Meanwhile, Pfizer reiterated Tuesday it’s on the right track to deliver a minimum of $4 billion in savings by the tip of the yr. The corporate in May announced a multiyear plan to slash costs, with the primary phase of the hassle slated to deliver $1.5 billion in savings by 2027.Â
Covid demand
Pfizer’s third-quarter beat was fueled partly by higher demand for its Covid products.
Paxlovid, its antiviral pill, brought in $2.7 billion in sales for the quarter, up from the $202 million it posted within the year-earlier period.Â
That growth is especially on account of strong demand, particularly within the U.S. during a recent wave of the virus. It was also helped by a one-time contractual delivery of 1 million treatment courses of Paxlovid to the federal government’s national stockpile in the course of the third quarter, which accounted for $442 million in revenue.Â
Those results are higher than the $707.7 million in sales that analysts were expecting for Paxlovid, in response to estimates compiled by StreetAccount.
“The demand for Paxlovid seems to have stabilized at the present levels and appears to be closely correlated with each wave of Covid-19,” Bourla said.
The corporate’s Covid shot booked $1.42 billion in revenue, up 9% from the identical period a yr ago.
Pfizer said that growth was mainly driven by the timing of stocking for the vaccine, pointing to the sooner approval of the updated version of the shot this fall compared with last yr. That growth was partially offset by lower contractual deliveries and demand in international markets.
Analysts expected $1.04 billion in sales for the shot, in response to StreetAccount.
Non-Covid product growth
Excluding Covid products, Pfizer said revenue for the third quarter rose 14% on an operational basis, fueled by approved cancer products from Seagen, which it acquired last yr for a whopping $43 billion.
Those drugs brought in $854 million in revenue for the quarter, including $409 million from a targeted treatment for bladder cancer called Padcev in addition to $268 million from Adectris, a drug that targets certain lymphomas. Pfizer accomplished its acquisition of Seagen in December.
Revenue also got a lift from sales of Pfizer’s Vyndaqel drugs, that are used to treat a certain variety of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the center muscle. Those drugs booked $1.45 billion in sales, up 62% from the third quarter of 2023.
Analysts had expected that group of medication to rake in $1.37 billion for the quarter, in response to estimates from StreetAccount. Â
Pfizer said its blood thinner Eliquis, which is co-marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb, also helped drive revenue growth in the course of the period. The drug posted $1.62 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 8% from the year-earlier period.Â
That’s barely higher than the $1.59 billion that analysts were expecting, in response to StreetAccount.Â
Sales of Eliquis could take successful in 2026, nonetheless, when a recent price for the drug goes into effect for certain Medicare patients following negotiations with the federal government. Those price negotiations are a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that the pharmaceutical industry fiercely opposes.
Meanwhile, Pfizer’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, saw $356 million in revenue for the third quarter. The shot, often known as Abrysvo, entered the market in the course of the third quarter of 2023 for seniors and expectant moms who can pass on protection to their fetuses.
Analysts had expected the shot to generate sales of $255.4 million, in response to StreetAccount estimates.
Last week, Pfizer’s RSV shot won approval for adults ages 18 to 59 who’re at increased risk for the disease – a choice that can likely significantly expand the reach of the jab within the U.S.
