Pfizer Beats Street 2Q Forecasts Despite Big Drop in Profit

NEW YORK (AP) — Higher expenses offset a big jump in sales from an acquisition, as Pfizer Inc.’s second-quarter profit plunged 23 percent. The biggest U.S. drugmaker still beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Pfizer on Tuesday reported net income of $2.02 billion, or 33 cents per share, down from $2.63 billion, or 42 cents per share, in 2015’s second quarter.

The New York-based company said earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and costs related to mergers and acquisitions, came to 64 cents per share. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 62 cents per share.

The maker of Viagra and the Prevnar 13 vaccine against pneumonia and other infections posted revenue of $13.15 billion in the period, up 11 percent from a year earlier. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13 billion.

Sales were boosted by last year’s acquisition of sterile injectable drugmaker Hospira, as well as rising sales in emerging markets such as China and India.

Pfizer’s innovative health business, which sells its drugs protected by patents, saw sales climb 7 percent, to $7.11 billion. Sales were led by fibromyalgia and pain treatment Lyrica, up 15 percent to $1.05 billion; new breast cancer drug Ibrance, which more than tripled to $514 million, and rheumatoid arthritis drug Zeljanz, up 70 percent to $217 million. Sales of older medicines, most of which have expired patents but still sell well in other countries, jumped 16 percent to $6.04 billion.

Pfizer affirmed its prior financial forecasts for 1016. It expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.38 to $2.48 per share, with revenue in the range of $51 billion to $53 billion.

Its shares fell 59 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $36.72 in premarket trading Tuesday.

Pfizer shares have risen 16 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has risen 6 percent. The stock has increased slightly more than 4 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on PFE at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PFE.

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