Pfizer 4th-quarter profit falls from year ago but tops estimates
Shares of Pfizer Inc. rose 2.8 percent Wednesday after the world’s largest drug maker reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its outlook for the year.
The company, which employs about 1,200 people at a research facility in Chesterfield, said net income for the company for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 fell to $2.88 billion, or 42 cents per share, from $9.45 billion, or $1.32 per share, a year ago. The year-ago results included divestiture gains of $1.11 per share. Excluding items, net income in the latest period totaled $3.6 billion, or 52 cents per share.
Revenue climbed 4 percent to $13.07 billion from $12.60 billion in the 2006 period, as international sales — buoyed by the weaker dollar — helped offset the loss of patent protection on blood pressure drug Norvasc and antidepressant Zoloft.
The results beat expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial of a fourth-quarter profit of 47 cents per share on $12.19 billion in revenue.
The company raised its outlook for revenue this year to a range of $47 billion to $49 billion, from a previous estimated range of $46.5 billion to $48.5 billion cash advances. It also lifted the lower end of its adjusted earnings forecast to $2.35 per share, from a previous range of $2.31 to $2.45.
Wall Street has forecast fiscal 2008 earnings per share of $2.34 on revenue of $47.12 billion.
However, the company warned that first-quarter revenue may not top year-ago results due to the loss of patent protection on Norvasc in 2007, allergy drug Zyrtec this month and colon cancer drug Camptosar in February. These products contributed U.S. revenue of about $1.1 billion in the 2007 first quarter.
Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday that it will begin selling Zyrtec without a prescription in stores nationwide this week.
Pfizer shares closed Wednesday at $22.86, up 63 cents.