Pfizer Lifts 2015 Outlook As Q2 Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) on Tuesday reported a 10 percent decline in profit for the second quarter from last year on lower revenues that were negatively impacted by a strong U.S. dollar.

However, both revenue and adjusted earnings per share for the quarter that beat analysts' expectations, helped by the recent product launches of pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13 Adult and breast cancer drug Ibrance. Looking ahead, the company raised its financial outlook for fiscal 2015.

Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Our second-quarter and year-to-date financial performance is the result of continued business momentum, driven by solid execution of recent product launches in our Innovative Products business, notably Ibrance and Prevnar 13 in adults in the U.S., along with continued growth from Eliquis and Xeljanz..."

For the second quarter, Pfizer's net income declined to $2.63 billion or $0.42 per share from $2.91 billion or $0.45 per share in the previous-year quarter.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.56 per share, compared to $0.58 per share in the same period last year. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, adjusted earnings per share increased by about 6 percent.

On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.52 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter declined 7 percent to $11.85 billion from $12.77 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts were looking for revenue of $11.42 billion.

The decline in revenues reflected operational growth of $125 million, or 1 percent, more than offset by the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange of $1 billion, or 8 percent.

Revenues from Established Products segment declined 22 percent from the year-ago period to $5.09 billion. The lower revenues were primarily due to the loss of exclusivity and immediate launch of multi-source generic competition for Celebrex and Zyvox in the U.S., and for Lyrica in certain developed Europe markets.

Innovative Products revenues rose 8 percent from last year to $6.63 billion. Revenues grew 17 percent operationally, primarily driven by U.S. launches of pneumonia vaccine Prevnar 13 Adult and breast cancer drug Ibrance.

In the segment, GIP revenues declined 1 percent to $3.50 billion and Consumer Healthcare revenues decreased 8 percent to $840 million. Meanwhile, Global Vaccines revenues grew 44 percent to $1.58 billion and Global Oncology revenues grew 25 percent to $713 million.

Operational growth in developed markets was driven by the performance of certain key products, including Prevnar 13 in adults, Eliquis, Ibrance and Xeljanz - all products that are early in their life cycles - as well as from vaccines acquired last year from Baxter International Inc.

Revenues in emerging markets increased 6 percent operationally, reflecting continued strong operational growth from Lipitor and Prevenar 13.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, Pfizer raised the midpoint of its financial guidance range for reported revenues by $500 million and the midpoint of guidance range for adjusted earnings per share by $0.04. The revised outlook reflects strong performance to date and improved business outlook.

The company now expects reported earnings for the year in a range of $1.38 to $1.47 per share, compared to the prior range of $1.32 to $1.47 per share. Adjusted earnings is now expected between $2.01 and $2.07 per share, compared to the prior outlook of $1.95 to $2.05 per share.

Pfizer now forecasts reported revenues for the year of $45 billion to $46 billion, compared to earlier outlook of $44.0 billion to $46.0 billion.

The Street expects earnings of $2.04 per share for the year on revenues of $45.98 billion.

PFE is trading at $34.77, up $0.43 or 1.25 percent on a volume of 208,675 shares.