Pfizer Earnings Top Views; Boosts Full-Year Guidance

By Rob Curran

Pfizer posted first-quarter earnings and sales that topped Wall Street targets and boosted its full-year projections as sales of blood thinners and cancer drugs helped shake off the hangover from its pandemic-era boom.

The New York drug maker posted first-quarter earnings of $3.12 billion, or 55 cents a share, down from $5.54 billion, or 97 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-off items, Pfizer posted adjusted earnings of 82 cents a share, eclipsing the average analyst estimate of 51 cents a share.

First-quarter revenue fell 20% to $14.88 billion, also far surpassing the average Wall Street estimate of $13.88 billion.

Chairman and Chief Executive Albert Bourla said sales of Covid-19 treatment Paxlovid fell from a year earlier, but showed enough resilience to suggest that consumers trusted the brand. The company said demand for blood thinner Eliquis and oncology products such as Ibrance, Xtandi, Padcev and Adcetris bolstered sales.

Paxlovid sales halved to $2 billion in the first quarter.

Pfizer boosted its 2024 adjusted earnings projection to a range between $2.15 and $2.35 a share from $2.05 to $2.25 a share previously.

Pfizer continues to expect 2024 revenue in a range between $58.5 billion and $61.5 billion.

Shares of the Big Pharma company soared during the depths of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, as it became a leading supplier of Covid vaccines and remedies worldwide. Sales of Covid products fell off a cliff in recent years, weighing on Pfizer shares.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 01, 2024 07:28 ET (11:28 GMT)

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