Pfizer Inc. has announced its first-quarter financial results, which have surpassed the expectations of analysts. The adjusted first-quarter earnings of $1.23 a share and revenue of $18.3 billion exceeded the expectations of 97 cents and Wall Street’s expectations, respectively.
Despite a sharp drop in demand for its Covid-19 products, Pfizer has left its full-year earnings guidance untouched.
As a result, its shares rose as much as 2.3%, the most intraday in about a month, as markets opened in the US. The company has pledged to step up product launches to help fill the gap, including the $43 billion planned acquisition of cancer-drug biotech Seagen Inc. earlier this year.
Last year, Pfizer’s Covid vaccine Comirnaty and Paxlovid antiviral contributed more than half of its $100 billion in sales. However, first-quarter revenue for the shot fell 77% to $3.1 billion, while Paxlovid saw quarterly purchases at $4.1 billion, well above estimates for $2.7 billion. Analyst Sam Fazeli said that the quarterly results showed how challenging it is to forecast Covid-19 revenues in 2023.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that Covid-19 cases have continued to fall in the US. However, Pfizer’s core business was disappointing, with some products such as blood thinner Eliquis and breast cancer drug Ibrance narrowly missing estimates.
Its expanding group of pneumococcal vaccines under the Prevnar brand performed slightly better than expected. The opening quarter was likely the strongest for Paxlovid, “due to China demand and the $2 billion US contract appearing to be mostly delivered in the first quarter,” according to Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal.
The drugmaker has also reported top-line results from a final-stage study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of a bivalent vaccine for both respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and flu in adults 65 and older, saying it met the primary endpoint demonstrating non-inferiority for all four flu strains and two RSV groups. The RSV vaccine, if approved, can be administered with the flu shot, Pfizer said.
Pfizer is getting closer to launching a vaccine for RSV in adults after receiving support from a regulatory panel in March and has said it is already manufacturing doses that will be ready in the third quarter.
The company expects the Seagen deal to close late this year or early 2024 after antitrust regulators will likely closely examine the purchase. However, contract negotiations with the European Union on vaccine purchases may still hurt its annual outlook as Poland, leading the EU negotiation, pressured Pfizer to scale back its supply contract in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday.
