Pfizer on Tuesday posted a shock adjusted fourth-quarter profit, as the corporate’s declining Covid business carried out higher than expected.
The firm reversed roughly $3.5 billion in revenue associated to the expected return of 6.5 million doses of its Covid drug, Paxlovid, from the U.S. authorities. That hit is less than the $4.2 billion Pfizer initially expected for the return of almost Eight million doses of Paxlovid.
Pfizer’s Covid vaccine raked in $5.36 billion in revenue for the quarter, down 53% from the identical interval final 12 months. Analysts had expected the shot to usher in $4.99 billion in gross sales, based on FactSet estimates.
The outcomes come as Pfizer tries to blunt the speedy decline of its Covid business, which noticed demand plummet to new lows and transitioned to the business market within the U.S. final 12 months. As revenue suffers, the corporate is attempting to enhance its backside line and increase investor confidence by means of a broad $Four billion cost-cutting plan.
Here’s what Pfizer reported for the fourth quarter in comparison with what Wall Street was anticipating, based mostly on a survey of analysts by LSEG, previously identified as Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: 10 cents per share adjusted vs. lack of 22 cents expected
- Revenue: $14.25 billion vs. $14.42 billion expected
The pharmaceutical big additionally reiterated its full-year 2024 guidance, which it first outlined in mid-December.
Pfizer expects revenue to come back in between $58.5 billion and $61.5 billion this 12 months, which incorporates roughly $Eight billion in revenue from its Covid merchandise and contributions from its not too long ago closed acquisition of most cancers drug developer Seagen.
The firm expects to e book adjusted earnings of $2.05 to $2.25 per share.
Pfizer recorded fourth-quarter revenue of $14.25 billion, down 41% from the identical interval a 12 months in the past, because of the plunge in gross sales of its Covid merchandise.
For the fourth quarter, Pfizer booked a web lack of $3.37 billion, or 60 cents per share. That compares to a web earnings of $4.99 billion, or 87 cents per share, throughout the same period a 12 months in the past.
Excluding sure gadgets, the corporate’s posted earnings per share of 10 cents for the quarter.
Still, Pfizer’s Covid business had a dismal 2023.
Revenue from its Covid vaccine and Paxlovid got here in at $12.5 billion in 2023. That’s down 78% from their $57 billion peak in 2022.
Pfizer’s non-Covid medicine
Excluding Covid merchandise, Pfizer mentioned revenue for the fourth quarter grew 8% operationally.
The firm mentioned that progress was partly fueled by its new vaccine towards respiratory syncytial virus, which entered the market throughout the third quarter for seniors and expectant moms. The shot, identified as Abrysvo, posted $515 million in gross sales for the fourth quarter.
The firm mentioned revenue additionally received a lift from robust gross sales of Vyndaqel medicine, that are used to deal with a sure sort of cardiomyopathy, a illness of the guts muscle. Those medicine booked $961 million in gross sales, up 41% from the fourth quarter of 2022.
Pfizer additionally mentioned its blood thinner Eliquis, which is co-marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb, helped drive that progress. The drug posted $1.61 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 9% from the identical interval a 12 months in the past. Analysts had expected Eliquis to rake in $1.52 billion in gross sales, based on FactSet.
One non-Covid product class fared worse than Pfizer hoped. A gaggle of pictures to guard towards pneumococcal pneumonia introduced in $1.60 billion in gross sales for the fourth quarter. That was down 8% from the identical quarter a 12 months in the past as a result of decrease demand and what the corporate referred to as “unfavorable timing of customer orders.” Analysts had expected that group of pictures to e book $1.97 billion in gross sales, based on FactSet.
Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal mentioned the disappointing gross sales for that group of pictures, which Pfizer calls the Prevnar household, might be a priority.
Bansal famous that Merck has supplied encouraging commentary on prospects for its personal pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine franchise, so he expects Pfizer to obtain questions throughout its fourth-quarter earnings name about the way it plans to defend that a part of its business.
The outcomes cap a rocky 12 months for a corporation that after noticed revenue soar after it delivered the world’s first Covid vaccine.
Shares of Pfizer fell roughly 40% in 2023 as demand for its shot and different Covid merchandise plummeted worldwide, inflicting the corporate to dramatically slash its full-year revenue forecast, document multi-billion greenback prices associated to inventory write-offs and launch a sweeping cost-cutting program.
What’s extra, Pfizer’s future within the booming weight reduction drug market started to look bleak final month. The firm scrapped a twice-daily version of its experimental weight reduction capsule after sufferers with weight problems taking the drug misplaced important weight however had bother tolerating the drug in a mid-stage scientific examine.
Investors are ready for the corporate to unveil information on a once-daily type of that drug, referred to as danuglipron, throughout the first half of the 12 months.
Pfizer hopes its $43 billion acquisition of Seagen, which officially closed throughout the fourth quarter, will restore investor confidence. Last month, the corporate made it clear that it was doubling down on most cancers therapies after it revealed plans to create a new oncology division that features Seagen in early 2024.
But Wall Street continues to be skeptical about whether or not Pfizer can flip issues round: The firm’s inventory is already down extra than 4% for the 12 months, placing its market worth at roughly $155 billion.
Pfizer will maintain an earnings name with buyers at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.