It now expects earnings per share of $6.40 to $6.50 for the year, up from its previous forecast of $6.30 to $6.45. The pharmaceutical company also raised the lower end of its sales guidance and now expects revenue of $99.5 billion to $102 billion for the year.
Pfizer raised its full-year sales guidance for its Covid-19 vaccine to $34 billion this year, up $2 billion from the company’s previous expectations. It is maintaining revenue expectations of $22 billion for the antiviral pill Paxlovid.
Its shares rose by about 2% in morning trading.
Here’s how the company performed compared with what Wall Street expected for the third quarter, based on analysts’ average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:
Adjusted EPS: $1.78 per share vs. $1.39 expected
Revenues: $22.6 billion vs. $21 billion expected
But Pfizer’s third-quarter global revenue fell 6% to $22.6 billion compared to the same period last year due to softening demand for its Covid vaccines internationally. The company sold $4.4 billion of its vaccine worldwide in the quarter, a decrease of 66% compared with the third quarter of 2021.
But softer global Covid vaccine sales internationally were offset by strong demand in the U.S., where revenue increased 83% year over year due to the rollout of the new BA.5 omicron boosters. Paxlovid also had a strong quarter, generating $7.5 billion in sales worldwide though mostly in the U.S.
Sales of the Eliquis, a blood thinner to treat clots and prevent strokes, came in at about $1.5 billion, a 9% increase over the same quarter last year. And Pfizer’s pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar, booked $1.6 billion in global sales, an increase of 11% over the same period in 2021.
Pfizer had net income of $8.6 billion for the third quarter, a 6% increase over the same quarter last year.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla indicated that company is looking beyond the Covid pandemic which has led to record windfalls for the pharmaceutical giant.
