Pfizer is taking on Amgen with its next steps in weight loss, the pharma titan said Tuesday as Pfizer stock dipped despite its third-quarter beat.
Previously, Pfizer only identified two of its obesity treating pills. Both mimic the GLP-1 hormone to improve feelings of satiety and markers of blood sugar. The third drug has remained a black box — until now. Pfizer plans to block the activity of another hormone called GIP.
This is similar to Amgen's MariTide, which mimics GLP-1 and blocks GIP. MariTide is being tested as a monthly injection. Eli Lilly's Zepbound and experimental drugs from Viking Therapeutics, on the other hand, mimic both hormones.
Pfizer expects to have more test results for its leading drug, danuglipron, in the first quarter. Umer Raffat, an Evercore ISI analyst, says investors should instead focus on Pfizer's other GLP-1 pill.
"Danuglipron seems very hard at this point," he said in a report, referencing the number of setbacks the weight-loss drug has faced.
On today's stock market, Pfizer stock fell 1.4% to 28.47. Shares are forming a flat base with a buy point at 31.54, according to MarketSurge.
Pfizer Stock: Paxlovid Drives Beat
During the September quarter, Pfizer earned an adjusted $1.06 per share. That easily beat forecasts for 61 cents and reversed from a year-earlier loss. Sales climbed 31% to $17.7 billion, topping the Street's call for $14.92 billion, according to FactSet.
The lion's share of the beat came from Paxlovid, Pfizer's Covid treatment. Paxlovid brought in $2.7 billion in sales. That smashed forecasts by 387%, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a client note. Comirnaty, the Covid vaccine developed with BioNTech, also beat expectations by 34%, coming in at $1.42 billion.
Excluding those two products, sales climbed 14%, Pfizer said in its news release.
Edward Jones analyst John Boylan noted those two drugs drove a good portion of the third-quarter outperformance.
"Covid-19 product sales can be unpredictable depending on the strength of any Covid-19 outbreaks, so we do not value greater-than-expected sales as highly as other products, despite Covid-19 products' cash-generating characteristics," he said in a report.
But sales of heart disease treatment Vyndaqel, migraine drug Nurtec and cancer meds Braftovi and Xtandi also topped Wall Street's projections. Sales of Padcev, a cancer treatment acquired with Seagen, came in light at $409 million. Analysts projected $425 million.
"But we still think it's early with a recent drug-combination approval," Boylan said.
He reiterated his buy rating on Pfizer stock.
Guidance Doesn't Bode Well For Fourth Quarter
Pfizer raised its outlook for the year, but that's almost entirely due to the Covid contribution in the third quarter. The company now expects $61 billion to $64 billion in sales. At the midpoint, that's an increase of $1.5 billion from its previous forecast.
The guidance includes $10.5 billion from Comirnaty and Paxlovid, up $2 billion from the guidance it gave three months ago.
Pfizer also expects to earn an adjusted $2.75 to $2.95 per share.
Analysts projected earnings of $2.66 a share and $61.13 billion in sales.
The new outlook assumes lighter sales in the fourth quarter, Leerink's Risinger said.
"Assuming Pfizer achieves the high end of its new guidance ranges, fourth-quarter revenues would be $17.3 billion, which is 4% below current consensus' (view of) $18.1 billion, and fourth-quarter EPS would be 60 cents, which is 10% below current consensus' (view of) 67 cents," he said.
He kept his market perform rating on Pfizer stock.
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