Global pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) reported mixed fiscal 2020 fourth-quarter results. The company also upwardly revised its FY 2021 earnings outlook. In addition to the impressive FY 2021 sales guidance, Pfizer also issued a robust COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) sales outlook. Despite the positive developments, the quarterly earnings miss sparked a sell-off that caused the share price to decline 2.26% or $0.81 to close at $34.99.
The New York-based company reported fourth-quarter 2020 revenues of $11.684 billion, up 12% from $10.449 billion in a similar period last year. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv anticipated the company to post revenues of $11.43 billion for the reported quarter. Excluding the COVID-19 vaccine sales, Pfizer recorded a growth of 9% on a y-o-y basis. Operational growth for the fourth quarter was 11%. The reported revenues include a positive impact of foreign exchange of $100 million (1%).
Pfizer swung to a profit of $564 million, or $0.10 per share, in 4Q 2020, compared with a net loss of $337 million, or $0.06 a share, in 4Q 2019.
Excluding charges, adjusted income for the recent quarter was $2.366 billion, or $0.42 per share, compared with $2.055 billion, or $0.36 a share, in the comparable period of fiscal 2019. The consensus estimate called for earnings of $0.48 per share for Q4, 2020.
Commenting on the quarterly results, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, “As a company, we saw the culmination of Pfizer’s decade-long conversion into a pure-play, science and innovation-focused company.”
Segment-wise,
- Internal Medicine revenues increased 1% y-o-y to $2.308 billion.
- Oncology revenues were $3.024 billion, an increase of 23% from last year.
- Hospital revenues were $2.220 billion, up 8% from the prior year.
- Vaccines revenues increased 17% to $2.001billion.
- Inflammation & Immunology revenues were $1.267 billion, reflecting a growth of 1% from the previous year.
- Rare Disease revenues grew 26% y-o-y to $865 million.
Blockbuster drugs of Pfizer performed (operational growth) as follows:
- Vyndaqel/Vyndamax recorded a 96% y-o-y increase to $429 million.
- Prevnar 13/Prevenar 13, up 10% to $1.750 billion.
- BNT162b2 (COVID-19 vaccine) posted sales of $154 million in the fourth quarter. The drug received emergency use authorization from the US FDA in December 2020. Pfizer, notably, was the first COVID -19 vaccine maker to receive the authorization.
- Eliquis revenues grew 14% y-o-y to $1.262 billion.
- Ibrance revenues were $1.436 billion, reflecting a growth of 11% from last year.
- Xeljanz revenues rose by 14% to $696 million.
- Inlyta revenues were $228 million, mirroring an increase of 41% from last year.
- Chantix revenues declined 33% to $191 million.
Looking ahead, the company upwardly revised its FY 2021 adjusted earnings guidance range to $3.10 to $3.20 per share, from the earlier outlook of between $3 and $3.10 a share. The upward revision was carried out after including COVID -19 vaccine sales forecast. Analysts anticipate the company to report adjusted earnings of $3.19 per share for the quarter.
Pfizer also stated that it anticipates revenues from $59.40 billion to $61.40 billion for FY 2021. Analysts are forecasting revenues of $56.72 billion for FY 2021. Furthermore, the company anticipates COVID -19 vaccine to generate $15 billion in revenue in FY 2021.
For FY 2020, Pfizer rewarded shareholders with cash dividends of $8.40 billion, which translates to a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share. The company did not make any share repurchases in 2020. Pfizer had remaining share repurchase authorization for $5.30 billion at the time of publishing the fourth-quarter results.
The mixed quarterly results and upward revision of FY 2021 adjusted earnings guidance are expected to keep Pfizer’s stock range-bound in the short-term.
Technically, the stock is declining after facing resistance at 38. The next support is anticipated only near 30. Furthermore, the stock has closed below its 50-day moving average, while the MACD histogram reading has turned negative. Therefore, we can anticipate the stock to remain in a downtrend in the days ahead.
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