Industryweek 6051 Pfizerpngcropdisplay

Pfizer Profits Fall, but Beat Expectations

Jan. 28, 2014
Revenues fell 2.4% as Pfizer continued to deal with the patent expiration of cholesterol drug Lipitor, Viagra and others.

NEW YORK -- Pfizer (IW 500/22) Tuesday reported a big drop in quarterly profits, but bested analyst expectations and pointed to several new drugs in development.

Pfizer, which has been bruised in recent quarters by patent expirations on some blockbuster drugs, said fourth-quarter profits fell nearly 60% due mainly to an asset sale in the year-ago period. However, fourth-quarter operating income in 2013 rose compared with the year-ago period.

Revenues fell 2.4% as Pfizer continued to deal with the patent expiration of cholesterol drug Lipitor, sexual dysfunction drug Viagra and others.

Pfizer chief executive Ian Read cited several upcoming clinical reports that are being closely watched on Wall Street, including for palbociclib for treatment of advanced breast cancer and bococizumab for cholesterol reduction.

"We enter 2014 with confidence in the competitive positioning of our commercial businesses, the prospects for our recently launched products and the strength of our research pipeline," Read said.

Net income for the fourth quarter was $2.6 billion on revenues of $13.6 billion, down 59.3% from the year-ago level of $6.3 billion on revenues of $13.9 billion. The 2012 quarter was boosted by the sale of Pfizer's nutrition business, which produced a one-time gain of $4.8 billion.

Those results translated into per-share earnings of 56 cents, four cents above analyst expectations. Revenues were also ahead of the $13.4 billion analyst forecast.

For all of 2013, Pfizer reported net income of $22.0 billion on revenues of $51.6 billion, up 51 percent from the 2012 level of $14.6 billion on revenues of $54.7 billion.

Pfizer forecast 2014 earnings per share of $2.20-$2.30 compared with analyst estimates of $2.28. Pfizer's 2013 earnings per share came in at $2.22.

Pfizer aggressively bought back shares in 2013, acquiring $16.3 billion of common stock and reducing the share count by about 13%.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014 

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Digitally Transforming Data and Processes With Product Lifecycle Management

Oct. 29, 2023
Manufacturers face increasing challenges in product development as they strive to consistently deliver improved results. Discover how industry leaders are improving time-to-market...

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!