Pfizer Q4 Adj. Profit Beats View, But Outlook Disappoints

(RTTNews) - Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) on Tuesday reported a 52 percent decline in profit for the fourth quarter from last year. Revenues declined 3 percent, hurt by continued negative impact from drug-patent losses and the termination of certain co-promotion collaborations.

However, adjusted earnings per share beat analysts' estimates. Looking ahead, the company forecast financial results for fiscal 2015 below analysts' estimates.

For the fourth quarter, Pfizer's net income declined to $1.23 billion or $0.19 per share from $2.57 billion or $0.39 per share in the previous-year quarter.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.54 per share, compared to $0.56 per share in the same period last year. On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.53 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter declined 3 percent to $13.12 billion from $13.56 billion in the prior-year period, and includes a 3 percent unfavourable impact of foreign exchange. Analysts were looking for revenue of $12.90 billion.

Revenues from Global Established Pharmaceutical or GEP segment declined 11 percent to $6.41 billion. Global Innovative Pharmaceutical or GIP revenues grew 3 percent to $3.75 billion.

Global Vaccines revenues rose 18 percent to $1.32 billion, Consumer Healthcare revenues edged up 1 percent to $953 million and Global Oncology revenues grew 10 percent to $609 million.

Operational growth in developed markets was driven by the performance of certain key products, including Lyrica, Prevnar and Eliquis, as well as Xeljanz primarily in the U.S.

Revenues in emerging markets increased 7 percent operationally, including strong operational growth from Lipitor, primarily in China, as well as Prevenar and Enbrel.

For fiscal 2014, Pfizer's net income fell to $9.14 billion or $1.42 per share from $22.00 billion or $3.19 per share in the prior year. Adjusted earnings were $2.26 per share, compared to $2.22 per share last year.

Revenues for the year declined 4 percent to $49.61 billion from $51.58 billion in the previous year.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, Pfizer forecasts adjusted earnings per share of $2.00 to $2.10 and reported revenues in a range of $44.5 billion to $46.5 billion. Street expects earnings of $2.18 per share on annual revenues of $47.56 billion.

The company noted that its revenue outlook reflects the anticipated negative impact of $3.5 billion due to recent and expected product losses of exclusivity, as well as $2.8 billion as a result of recent adverse changes in essentially all foreign exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar.

PFE closed Monday's trading at $32.80. In Tuesday's pre-market trades, the stock is down $0.30 or 0.91 percent to $32.51.