Pfizer Inc. (PFE) shares were active Tuesday after the drugmaker posted stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings but issued a softer 2023 growth forecast thanks to waning sales for its Covid treatments.
Pfizer said adjusted earnings for the three months ending in December were pegged at $1.14 per share, a 5.6% increase from the same period last year and just ahead the Street consensus forecast of $1.05 per share. Group revenues, Pfizer said, rose 2% to $24.3 billion, a figure that essentially matched analysts' estimates of an $24.32 billion tally amid a pullback in sales of its Paxlovid antivrial treatment.
Looking into the 2023 financial year, Pfizer said it sees group revenues in the region of $67 billion to $71 billion, with around $13.5 billion in sales of its Comirnaty Covid vaccine -- a and $8 billion in sales for it antiviral treatment known as Paxlovid.
"As we turn to 2023, we expect to once again set records, with potentially the largest number of new product and indication launches that we’ve ever had in such a short period of time," said CEO Albert Bourla. "We believe that the combination of these expected near-term launches, additional pipeline products that could potentially come to market in the medium-term, and anticipated contributions from business development, has the potential to set the company up for continued robust growth through the rest of this decade and beyond.”
Pfizer shares were marked 0.5% higher in early Tuesday trading following the earnings release to change hands at $43.78 each.
Earlier this month, Pfizer indicated it could work with a local partner in China to sell its Covid antivral treatment, but added it's not in discussions with Beijing to sell Paxlovid directly.
China's Healthcare Security Administration said Sunday that it won't include Paxlovid in the list of medicines it will cover through basic health insurance, saying Pfizer's quoted prices were too high.
