Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (PFE) reported stellar third-quarter results, registering triple-digit growth in both its top and bottom lines. Shares jumped 4.2%, closing at $45.45 on November 2.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.34 per share, a whopping 129% growth year-over-year and 29 cents higher than analyst estimates of $1.08 per share.
Similarly, the company earned $24.1 billion in revenues, growing 134% year-over-year, outpacing Street estimates of $22.4 billion. In Q3, the company’s Comirnaty business (Pfizer-BioNTech SE (BNTX) COVID-19 vaccine) contributed $13 billion towards total revenue.
Delighted with the solid results, the Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, Dr. Albert Bourla, said, “More than 75% of the revenues we have recorded up through third-quarter 2021 for Comirnaty have come from supplying countries outside the U.S., and we remain on track to achieve our goal of delivering at least two billion doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022 — at least one billion to be delivered this year and one billion next year, with the possibility to increase those deliveries if more orders are placed by these countries for 2022.”
Based on the continued business momentum and increased expectations from its Comirnaty business, Pfizer updated its FY 2021 revenue guidance to fall in the range of $81-$82 billion, while consensus is pegged at $80.19 billion. Pfizer expects to generate about $36 billion revenue from the Comirnaty segment, with 2.3 billion doses expected to be delivered in FY 2021.
Moreover, Pfizer forecasts FY 2021 adjusted earnings to be in the range of $4.13-$4.18 per share, against the consensus estimate of $4.14 per share. (See Insiders’ Hot Stocks on TipRanks)
Responding to Pfizer’s quarterly performance, analyst Vamil Divan of Mizuho Securities said, “It appears the beat and raise is driven mainly by sales of their COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty to Emerging Markets, with the rest of the business overall performing fairly close to expectations. While the vaccine continues to dominate discussions on Pfizer, we continue to look for company commentary on the vaccine’s longer-term impact to the company and other steps Pfizer is taking to improve its longer-term outlook.”
Divan has a Hold rating on the stock with a price target of $43, which implies 5.39% downside potential to current levels.
Overall, the stock has a Hold consensus rating, based on 1 Buy and 6 Holds. The average Pfizer price target of $48.17 implies 5.98% upside potential to current levels. Shares have gained 32.6% over the past year.
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