Pfizer cuts sales view as COVID pill, other key drugs slump

Pfizer’s second-quarter sales of its COVID pill and other key products underperformed, causing the company to shave $1 billion from its full-year sales forecast.

Despite sharp declines in sales of both its COVID shot and antiviral, the drugmaker maintained its full-year guidance for a combined $21.5 billion in sales from the two products, prompting questions from analysts as to whether the company can reach that goal.

Pfizer’s COVID products brought in tens of billions during the height of the pandemic when people were clamoring for vaccines and pills to combat the virus.

Now the drugmaker is expecting to shift to a model where health insurers pay for the products after years of governments purchasing them.

Second-quarter revenue of $12.7 billion fell 54% from a year ago, which Pfizer attributed to fading COVID demand.

Other top sellers like blood-thinner Eliquis and pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar also missed analysts’ estimates for the quarter.

Comirnaty’s quarterly sales of $1.49 billion were down 83% from a year ago, in line with analysts’ expectations.

Paxlovid’s quarterly sales of $143 million were down 98% from a year prior and far below Wall Street’s expectations for $843 million.

The company’s stock has fallen by nearly a third over the past year, far more than any of its industry rivals, and was down less than 1% at 9:45 a.m. in New York.

While second-quarter sales missed Wall Street estimates, earnings of 67 cents a share beat analysts expectations of 58 cents.

JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott doesn’t expect the stock to fall much from here, but also doesn’t “see a clear path for shares to recover given continued uncertainty surrounding the company’s COVID franchise and the recent setback for the company’s once-daily oral GLP-1,” a weight-loss product that may struggle to keep up with rivals.

Adjusted earnings for the year will be in a range of $3.25 to $3.45 a share, in line with prior guidance.

Revenue will be as much $70 billion, down from a former estimate that topped out at $71 billion.

“While investors expected worse guidance, we think the questions will still be around drivers of COVID full-year target achievement,” Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal said in a note to investors.