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Pfizer Inc.’s stock
PFE,
slid more than 8% early Wednesday, after the drug company set 2024 guidance that fell short of analyst expectations.
As it wrestles with reduced COVID sales expectations and acquires cancer-drug maker Seagen, Pfizer is expecting 2024 revenue to range from $58.5 billion to $61.5 billion, below the $62.6 billion FactSet consensus. The company expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $2.05 to $2.25, while the FactSet consensus is $3.17.
Products from the Seagen portfolio are expected to contribute $3.1 billion in 2024 revenues, Pfizer said. The company said earlier this week that it has received all regulatory approvals for the planned acquisition and expects to close the deal on Thursday.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and its antiviral Paxlovid are expected to generate $8 billion in 2024 revenues, Pfizer said Wednesday, well below the FactSet consensus of $13.9 billion.
On a call with investors Wednesday, Pfizer executives emphasized a focus on providing more conservative and reliable COVID sales estimates. The company aims to avoid creating uncertainty, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on the call, “which was the case unfortunately this year, when our estimates were way higher” than the actual results. Pfizer in October cut $9 billion from its full-year 2023 sales outlook as COVID revenues came in below expectations.
The revenue forecast also includes $1 billion stemming from the reclassification of royalty income, previously considered other income, into the revenue line, Pfizer said in a statement.
A sweeping cost-cutting program, which Pfizer first announced in October, is now expected to generate annual savings of at least $4 billion, the company said, up from $3.5 billion forecast previously.
The additional cost cutting “puts us on a path to potentially regain our pre-pandemic operating margins,” Bourla said in a statement.
The stock has fallen 49% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX
has gained 21%.
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