Pfizer Inc.’s stock fell Tuesday after the drug giant’s second-quarter earnings fell sharply from a year ago as sales of its COVID vaccine and antiviral tumbled to drive a more than 50% decline in revenue. The stock
PFE,
-1.23%
was last down 1.2%, and is down 30% year-to-date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.19%
has gained 19%.
The company posted net income of $2.327 billion, or 41 cents a share, for the quarter, down 77% from $9.906 billion, or $1.73 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 67 cents, ahead of the 57 cent FactSet consensus. Revenue fell 54% to $12.734 billion from $27.743 billion a year ago, below the $13.363 billion FactSet consensus. The company chalked up sales of $1.6 billion from COVID vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral Paxlovid, but that was way below the roughly $17 billion the two treatments generated in the year-ago quarter. Excluding those two, revenue grew 5% from a year ago. Chief Executive Albert Bourla emphasized that the company is working on a goal of launching 19 new products or indications in an 18-month span, as the world moves on from the pandemic. The company is also working to close its $43 billion acquisition of cancer drug maker Seagen, for which it raised $31 billion in a debt offering during the second quarter. That deal is expected to add more than $10 billion in sales by 2030. “There is reason to be excited about Pfizer’s future as the company has executed 11 launches over the past 18 months,” said Lee Brown, global sector lead for healthcare at research firm Third Bridge, in comments made after interviewing executives in the industry. “But over the near-term, it’s going to remain challenging for the company.” Areas th …
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