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Pfizer's earnings fall
Profits fall 18 percent on disappointing sales of Exubera and increasing competition with generics.
April 20 2007: 10:31 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Pfizer said Friday that quarterly earnings fell on special charges, anemic sales of inhaled diabetes drug Exubera and plunging demand for drugs facing generic competition, sending shares down 2.5 percent in pre-market trade.
The world's largest drugmaker said its 2007 earnings will be below Wall Street expectations due to the unexpectedly swift introduction of cheaper generic forms of its hypertension treatment Norvasc.
Pfizer said 2008 revenue will be little changed from 2007, which itself was expected to be flat with last year.
Pfizer also warned that sales of its biggest product, cholesterol fighter Lipitor could have "modest growth to modest decline" this year because more U.S. patients than expected switched to cheaper generic forms of Merck's rival Zocor.
Pfizer earned $3.39 billion, or 48 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with $4.11 billion, or 56 cents, in the year-ago period.
Excluding special items, New York-based Pfizer earned 68 cents. Analysts, on average, expected 57 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $12.47 billion, topping the Reuters Estimate of $11.77 billion, helped by surging sales of its drug Lyrica used to treat neuropathic pain.
Company sales growth has also stalled due to generic competition for other former big sellers, including antibiotic Zithromax and anti-depressant Zoloft.
Pfizer in January said revenue in 2007 should be flat, but that earnings would grow about 6 to 9 percent thanks in part to ongoing cost-cutting efforts, including an ongoing effort to cut 10,000 jobs by 2008.
Pharmaceutical stocks have had a strong week, with shares of Pfizer and rivals Merck (Charts, Fortune 500), Novartis (Charts) and Bayer (Charts) all up in the single digits.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/20/news/companies/pfizer.reut/index.htm
