Pfizer stock bounded off its 50-day line on Monday after avoiding a battle with activist investor Starboard Value — for now.
According to Bloomberg, Starboard didn't put forth any nominations for Pfizer's board before the Jan. 25 deadline. The board will hold its annual meeting in April.
The news took some pressure off Pfizer stock, which rose 3% to 26.86. Starboard took a $1 billion stake in Pfizer last year. The activist investor claims Pfizer hasn't delivered on its investment in research and development. Starboard also argued that Pfizer has made poor capital allocation decisions and has badly forecast and budgeted.
Still, Pfizer stock has fallen 56.5% from its peak above 60 in late 2021. Shares are now trapped between their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, according to MarketSurge.
Pfizer Stock: Bourla Faces Off With Critics
The pressure is on for Chief Executive Albert Bourla who has faced significant criticism from Starboard.
During the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this month, Bourla acknowledged he was dissatisfied with Pfizer's performance in 2023. The company missed sales expectations in three out of four quarters as sales of Covid products pulled back markedly.
Bourla said he laid out five priorities to turn things around. The goals involved bolstering the pipeline, turning around commercial performance, maximizing new products and reducing costs.
"I'm very pleased that all the goals that we had set in all five priorities were achieved and exceeded in most of the cases," Bourla said.
But Pfizer stock has been relatively unmoved since the annual conference, the biggest in the industry. Shares have a poor Relative Strength Rating of 24, according to IBD Digital. The 1-99 score measures a stock's 12-month performance against all other stocks. Pfizer stock also has a middle Composite Rating of 50, putting its technical and fundamental performance in the middle of all stocks.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X/Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
