Pfizer swings to a Q4 profit after rough year
Reduced spending on overhead and legal costs helped drugmaker Pfizer Inc end a difficult year with a fourthquarter profit, after a loss a year ago, and the company forecast slightly higher revenue and profit for 2017.
The biggest drugmaker based in the US still missed the profit expectations of Wall Street, but it edged past revenue expectations. The maker of Viagra and pain treatment Lyrica yesterday reported net income of $775 million, versus a loss of $172 million a year ago. Profit was 13 cents per share or, adjusted for non-recurring costs, 47 cents per share. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 50 cents per share. Revenue totaled $13.63 billion in the period, while analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13.55 billion.
Pfizer, based in New York, said it expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.50 to $2.60 per share, with revenue in the range of $52 billion to $54 billion. For all of 2016, Pfizer reported net income of $7.2 billion, or $1.17 per share, on revenue of $52.8 billion. Pfizer was blocked last year by the Obama administration in its attempt to acquire the Irish drugmaker Allergan in a tax maneuver that would have put its headquarters, at least on paper, in Dublin. It also scrapped development of a highpriced new cholesterol drug once viewed as a big seller, as sales expectations dropped amid increasing pressure for lower prices from insurers and prescription benefit managers. Shares slipped more than 1 percent before the opening bell yesterday, and have declined almost 4 percent since the beginning of the year. — AP