Pfizer (PFE) reported fourth-quarter earnings results Tuesday morning with revenue tied to its COVID-19 vaccine falling 53% year-over-year. Overall revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates of $14.38 billion, while adjusted earnings saw gains of $0.10 per share where losses were expected.
Yahoo Finance Health Reporter Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the details, providing insights into the company's plans moving forward.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
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AKIKO FUJITA: Pfizer is out this morning with its fourth quarter results, seeing revenue from its COVID vaccine declined 53% year on year. That still came in above expectations, though. Let's get to our very own, Anjalee Khemlani, who's tracking this for us. Anj, Pfizer shares down just slightly here, but so much of this is really about the company moving beyond that COVID vaccine.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. It's one of the companies that has taken a little bit more time to move beyond COVID, of course, because it had such a large role to play with the COVID vaccines. We know that they're sort of right sizing. And that's sort of the story that Pfizer is trying to set in the earnings call today with investors, discussing the idea that this company is able to now more conservatively predict what the COVID revenues could be.
As you see, they did have a beat a little bit on the EPS-- on the earnings per share side, but slight miss on revenues and sales as well from what the Street expected. And that is based on a little bit of a pullback from the government to the Paxlovid doses that they had estimated would need to be returned, expired courses that they were taking back from the government. So they took a little bit of a hit on the revenue there.
But the story moving forward for 2024 is really one of maintaining the course of what the company has been setting up. Leerink Partners analysts said that Pfizer has maintained the guidance that they set for 2024. After a downgrade late last year in December, they gave a slight upgrade, noting that they're going to be a little bit more conservative to that end.
And you saw CEO Albert Bourla sort of talking about that with the moves that the company has been making. He said on the earnings call today, quote, that "2023 was a record year for FDA approvals with nine new molecular entity approvals and many more approvals for new indications."
The company has been keeping track of a lot of movement in its pipeline. But there still is criticism of that. As the company looks to greater approvals, it still hasn't, what JPM analysts say, set sort of a clear path for shares to meaningfully rerate and a lack of near-term catalysts and a pipeline that lacks a clear anchor asset.
That's really the key point of why the shares are down and why analysts and Wall Street are not yet impressed with the movement that Pfizer has made. So we'll have to see what they can do throughout the year, even with that $43 billion acquisition of Seagen to really bump up the stock.
RACHELLE AKUFFO: And certainly keeping in mind that context you mention of where we were with COVID. Clearly a black swan event, so some right sizing definitely needed. Appreciate you. Our very own, Anjalee Khemlani.