Big pharma reporting season was muted, with the quarterly results and guidance coming in mixed.
Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) shares pulled back despite the company reporting this week above-consensus results, with the negative reaction reflecting investors concerns over the sustainability of its oral COVID-19 pill revenues. Roche Holding AG (OTC:RHHBY) also pulled back as the Swiss pharma giant flagged slowing COVID testing revenues.
What Happened: Against this backdrop, money manager Cathie Wood's Ark Invest sold a trio of biopharma stocks on Friday, according to daily trade information released by the fund.
The ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (BATS:ARKG) sold 35,747 shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) on Friday. At the session's closing price of $53, the disposal would have fetched the fund $1.9 million. Pfizer now accounts for 0.05% of the total holdings of the fund.
Pfizer is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results Tuesday, before the market open. The company is expected to announce strong growth in fourth-quarter revenues to $220.18 billion, with much of its upside coming from its COVID portfolio.
In the year-ago period, revenues stood at $11.7 billion. The company received authorization for its COVID vaccine that was co-developed with BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) in mid-December 2020. Subsequently, the company has added an oral COVID antiviral pill Paxlovid to its portfolio.
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Ark Sells Regeneron, Vertex Post Earnings: Ark Invest also sold shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) on Friday. However, the disposals were only nominal, with the fund selling 3,261 shares of the former and 7,624 shares of the latter.
Regeneron shares carved out a modest gain on Friday after the company reported an earnings beat, thanks to the strong uptake of its COVID antibody treatment.
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