Pfizer stock tumbled Thursday after delivering a second-quarter earnings beat almost entirely on the back of its Covid vaccine and antiviral pill.
The two products, Comirnaty and Paxlovid, brought in a combined $16.96 billion in sales. Together, they accounted for more than 61% of Pfizer's total revenue. Overall sales rocketed 47%. But without those two products, Pfizer's sales only inched 1% ahead, operationally.
The question Wall Street is now asking is how durable the franchise is. Pfizer and BioNTech, its Covid vaccine partner, are working on an updated booster shot to target the most recent sub-variants of omicron, B.A.4 and B.A.5. But analysts expect sales to taper off in 2023. And, though Pfizer raised its profit guidance for 2022, it still missed expectations.
That dinged Pfizer stock on today's stock market. Shares fell 1.6% to 50.72.
Pfizer Stock: Vaccines Drive Growth
Overall, Pfizer reported $27.74 billion in June-quarter revenue, easily beating forecasts for $25.49 billion. Adjusted earnings soared 92% to $2.04 per share, also well above FactSet-polled analysts' projection for profit of $1.72 a share.
On a segment basis, the best growth came from Pfizer's vaccines division. Sales grew 13% to $10.46 billion. Revenue from the smaller rare diseases business ticked up 2%, while cancer treatments and inflammation/immunology drugs saw declines.
Comirnaty, the Covid vaccine, brought in $8.85 billion in sales, growing 13%. Meanwhile, Paxlovid generated $8.12 billion in sales. Pfizer also noted strong growth for its pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar. Prevnar sales climbed 15% on a year-over-year basis to $1.43 billion. Sales of blood thinner Eliquis climbed 18% to $1.75 billion.
But there were several notable declines. Pfizer's biggest cancer treatment, Ibrance, declined 6% to $1.32 billion in sales. Revenue from inflammation drug Xeljanz tumbled 27% to $430 million. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration slapped new warning labels on Xeljanz and several similar drugs. These medicines are tied to heart-related events, blood clots, cancer and death.
Guidance Raised, But Lags Estimates
Guidance was also a sore spot, lagging expectations.
Pfizer raised the low end of its adjusted profit outlook. The company expects to earn $6.30-$6.45 per share, up a nickel at the bottom from its prior view. Still, that was below Pfizer stock analysts' call for $6.53 per share.
Pfizer reaffirmed its sales outlook for $98 billion to $102 billion, which includes $32 billion from the Covid vaccine and $22 billion from Paxlovid. But the guidance missed expectations for $102.32 billion in sales.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
