Pfizer’s Earnings Fall With Cooling Demand for Covid Products
Pfizer reaffirmed its outlook to see revenue decline by as much as a third this year from its record high $100 billion in 2022. Photo: Gabby Jones for The Wall Street Journal By Dean Seal May 2, 2023 7:57 am ET ’s first-quarter revenue and earnings were down by nearly a third from a year ago, when the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 buoyed demand for pandemic products. The drugmaker for the first three months of the year logged revenue of $18.28 billion, down 29% from a year ago but still well above Wall Street analyst estimates for $16.61 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Sales declined as expected for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, called Comirnaty, as the world transitions into a new phase of managing the virus and the national public-h
Pfizer reaffirmed its outlook to see revenue decline by as much as a third this year from its record high $100 billion in 2022.
Photo: Gabby Jones for The Wall Street Journal
By
’s first-quarter revenue and earnings were down by nearly a third from a year ago, when the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 buoyed demand for pandemic products.
The drugmaker for the first three months of the year logged revenue of $18.28 billion, down 29% from a year ago but still well above Wall Street analyst estimates for $16.61 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Sales declined as expected for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, called Comirnaty, as the world transitions into a new phase of managing the virus and the national public-health emergency comes to an end. Excluding revenue from Comirnaty and Pfizer’s Covid-19 pill Paxlovid, which came in at $7.1 billion for the first quarter, the company’s top line increased 5%.
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Subscribe NowPfizer said in January that it was prepared to see revenue decline by as much as a third this year from its record high $100 billion in 2022 as the pandemic recedes and demand for Covid-19 products is undercut by a significant government stockpile.
The New York-based company reaffirmed that outlook Tuesday. Chief Financial Officer David Denton said the first quarter’s results were in line with expectations and that the second half of the year should be primed for 7% to 9% revenue growth given the timing of some coming product and service launches.
Pfizer’s profit fell 30% during the first quarter to $5.54 billion, with earnings dropping 29% to 97 cents a share. Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings were $1.23 a share, topping analyst estimates for 98 cents a share, according to FactSet.
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Pfizer signed a deal in March to acquire the biotech company Seagen and its portfolio of targeted cancer drugs for $43 billion in a bid to beef up its own aging pharmaceutical lineup. Mr. Denton said the transaction, which includes debt, is still on track to close late this year or early next year.
Shares edged less than a percentage point higher to $39.58 in premarket trading.
Write to Dean Seal at [email protected]
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