Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks during a press conference after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine on the Pfizer factory in Puurs, Belgium, April 23, 2021.
John Thys | Reuters
Pfizer on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates and hiked its full-year profit guidance, as cost cuts helped to outweigh declining sales for the period.
The pharmaceutical giant now expects its full-year adjusted profit to are available in between $3 and $3.15 per share, up from previous guidance of $2.90 to $3.10 per share. Pfizer said that reflects its “solid” performance for the 12 months, “continued confidence in our business” and progress with reducing costs, amongst other aspects.Â
Pfizer said it also features a one-time $1.35 billion charge tied to its licensing agreement with Chinese biotech 3SBio, which hit earnings by roughly 20 cents per share. The corporate said its 2025 guidance also accounts for President Donald Trump’s current tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico. It doesn’t reflect Trump’s threatened pharmaceutical-specific tariffs, as the corporate is exempt from those levies under a brand new drug pricing cope with the president.
Pfizer maintained it full-year revenue guidance of $61 billion to $64 billion.
Here’s what the corporate reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 87 cents adjusted vs. 63 cents expected
- Revenue: $16.65 billion vs. $16.58 billion expected
Pfizer reported revenue of $16.65 billion for the third quarter, down 6% from the identical period a 12 months ago, largely due to lower demand for its Covid vaccine and Paxlovid, an antiviral pill for the virus.Â
The corporate booked net income of $3.54 billion, or 62 cents per share. That compares with net income of $4.47 billion, or 78 cents per share, throughout the same period a 12 months ago.Â
Excluding certain items, including restructuring charges and costs related to intangible assets, the corporate posted earnings per share of 87 cents for the quarter.
Also on Tuesday, Pfizer said it’s heading in the right direction to chop costs by about $7.7 billion by the top of 2027 as a part of two separate initiatives. As a part of that, the corporate said it’s going to slash costs by $4.5 billion by the top of 2025.
The outcomes come weeks after Pfizer became the primary drugmaker to strike a cope with Trump to voluntarily sell its medications for less, as his administration pushes to link U.S. drug prices to cheaper ones abroad.
Under the deal, Pfizer has agreed to a three-year grace period during which the corporate’s products won’t face Trump’s threatened pharmaceutical-specific tariffs – so long as the drugmaker further invests in U.S. manufacturing. The corporate plans to speculate $70 billion to reshore domestic drug manufacturing and research facilities.
Pfizer is slowly regaining its footing after a rapid decline in its Covid business over the past three years, with the corporate betting on recent ways to spice up revenue, including through cancer products from its $43 billion acquisition of Seagen and a proposed cope with the obesity biotech Metsera.
However the drugmaker is in a heated bidding war with Novo Nordisk for Metsera. Pfizer on Monday filed its second lawsuit against the 2 corporations, alleging that Novo Nordisk’s try and outbid Pfizer to accumulate Metsera is anticompetitive.
Shares of Pfizer are down 7% for the 12 months.
Weaker Covid product sales
Pfizer said its Covid products weighed on third-quarter sales, as lower infection rates reduced Paxlovid demand and a narrower vaccine advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S. shrank the eligible population for the shot, called Comirnaty.Â
In September, advisors to the CDC really useful that everybody seek the advice of a health-care provider when deciding whether to receive a shot – softer guidance to receive the jab than in previous years. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, has sought to rewrite the nation’s immunization policies through a series of far-reaching actions.
The corporate’s Covid shot booked $1.15 billion in revenue for the third quarter, down 19% from the year-earlier period. Analysts expected the shot to herald $1.13 billion in sales for the quarter, in accordance with StreetAccount estimates.
Pfizer’s antiviral Covid pill Paxlovid posted $1.23 billion in sales for the third quarter, down 55% from the identical period a 12 months ago. Analysts expected the shot to rake in $1.37 billion in sales for the period, StreetAccount estimates said.
The corporate said third-quarter sales were helped by higher revenues for several products, including its blood thinner Eliquis, which it shares with Bristol Myers Squibb. That drug drew $2.02 billion in sales, a 25% increase, topping analysts’ estimates for the period, in accordance with StreetAccount.
Eliquis is among the many first round of medication that may face recent negotiated prices in Medicare in 2026, on account of a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Pfizer said its Vyndaqel drugs, that are used to treat a certain variety of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the guts muscle, and its migraine treatment Nurtec also saw higher sales. Vyndaqel medicines posted $1.59 billion in sales, while Nurtec drew $412 million in revenue, each surpassing analysts’ estimates for the period.
