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By Michael Erman and Bhanvi Satija
(Reuters) -Pfizer reported a surprise quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by cost cuts and higher-than-expected demand for its COVID treatment Paxlovid, but sales of some high profile products fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Pfizer shares were off around 1% in afternoon trading.
Investors fled Pfizer last year as pandemic worries declined and billions of dollars in COVID-19 vaccine and treatment sales disappeared. The company has responded with a recent purchase of cancer drugmaker Seagen, a $4 billion cost-cutting program, and internal restructuring.
"This will be a year of execution. We have assembled a team that I hand-picked, that I believe are the absolutely right leaders to" put Pfizer's growth plan into place, Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on a call with investors.
"Our abilities to execute across all our operation are proven," Bourla said in an interview, pointing to the company's success developing its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.
Pfizer has forecast 2024 revenue in a range that is flat to up 5%.
The company has not said how many people it will lay off as part of the cost reduction program, but has announced over a thousand job cuts in locations including the UK, Ireland, Michigan, New York and New Jersey.
Jeff Jonas, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, said he was concerned about the company's non-COVID performance, after revenue for products like breast cancer treatment Ibrance and the Prevnar pneumonia vaccine were lighter than expected.
"Historically I thought they had one of the best sales forces in the industry and they’ve been able to at least sell and execute on drugs pretty well, even if their R&D maybe wasn’t always the best. But there have been some challenges there recently," Jonas said.
Ibrance, which is facing intense competition from rival treatments, saw sales fall 12.6% to $1.12 billion in the quarter, below analysts' forecasts for $1.23 billion.
Prevnar brought in sales of $1.61 billion, below estimates of $2 billion.
Bourla said the company was looking to leverage a "more focused, efficient structure" to drive growth of new drugs. The CEO previously expressed disappointment over the launch of the new RSV vaccine Abrysvo, which has significantly trailed a rival shot from GSK.
The New York-based drugmaker earned 10 cents per share on an adjusted basis for the fourth quarter. Analysts on average had expected a loss of 22 cents per share, according to LSEG data.
Revenue in the quarter of $14.25 billion was shy of Wall Street estimates of $14.42 billion.