Shares of Pfizer declined after the company released a mixed report for the 3rd quarter. The company lowered earnings forecast and earnings per share for the year 2020 and said that at the end of November will give information about the study vaccine COVID-19 to regulators for permission to sell.
Shares of Pfizer (PFE), falling by 3.2% since the beginning of the year, fell 1.65% on Tuesday (at the time of writing) after the company reported third quarter results ended 30 September.
Pfizer reported a decline in earnings per share by 4% (compared to the same quarter of 2019) to $0,72, but it came in slightly above analysts ‘ estimates of $0.71 in. Total quarterly profit fell to $2.2 billion compared with $7,68 in the 3rd quarter 2019.
Quarterly total revenue also decreased by 4% to $12,13 billion, below the average analysts ‘ estimates of $12,32 billion to See the quarterly history of revenue and profit Pfizer for the last 2 years can link.
In its report, Pfizer noted a 6% increase in sales of anti-cancer drug Ibrance to $1.36 billion, above analysts ‘ estimates of $1.39 billion, despite increased competition from Verzenio from Eli Lilly.
At the same time, the total quarterly income was reduced in particular due to the falling sales of generic pain medication Lyrica for $500 million because of the pandemic, COVID-19, as patients with other diseases were less sought medical help.
Pfizer also pointed out that the costs of the 3rd quarter on research and development increased compared to the same quarter of the previous year, “which primarily reflects higher spending on the efforts of Pfizer for the development of potential vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19”.
The company reported that for the first nine months 2020 paid $6.3 bn dividend consisting of a dividend of $0,38 per common share in each of the first, second and third quarters of the year 2020. Today in 2020, the redemption of shares has not been and is not planned until the end of the year.
Pfizer lowered its annual forecast
Pfizer has changed its earnings forecast 2020 in the range of $48.6 bn $50.6 bn to a range of $48,8 billion – $49,5 billion, and the forecast of annual earnings per share from $2,85 – $2,95 to $2.88 – $2,93.
The company also raised its forecast for spending on development and research in 2020: from the range of $8.6 billion – $9.0 billion to $8.8 billion – $9.1 billion.
Definitive data on the vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech will be published in late November
Commenting on the report, the Pfizer reiterated its recent announcement that it plans to publish data on the safety of vaccines COVID-19, developed jointly with the German company BioNTech (BNTX), at the end of November.
The vaccine is undergoing the final phase 3 trials, with the originally planned number of volunteers to 30 thousand has been increased to more than 42 thousand participants.
According to a press release: “the Expansion allows companies to increase the diversity of reactions, including testing of the vaccine in adolescents aged 16 years and people with chronic stable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B, and also to provide additional safety and effectiveness data.”
Almost 36 000 volunteers received a second vaccination as of October 26.
Pfizer and BioNTech has entered into agreements for the supply of hundreds of millions of doses of its vaccine with the U.S., Europe, Japan and Canada.
By the end of 2021, the company promises to deliver up to 1.3 billion doses.
