Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) shares slid today on fourth-quarter results that came up shy of the consensus sales forecast.
The pharmaceutical giant posted profits of $3.4 billion, or 59¢ per share, on sales of $23.8 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, more than quadrupling its bottom-line on revenues that were more than doubled year-over-year.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.08, 23¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $23.9 billion.
Annual 2021 revenue for the company hit $81.3 billion, representing 92% operational growth. The company’s revenue in 2020 was $41.9 billion.
Sales and alliance revenues from the company’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine, developed in partnership with BioNTech, came in at $12.5 billion for the quarter, dipping slightly from $13 billion in revenues registered the previous quarter.
“Today we are issuing guidance for the coming year which, if achieved, would represent the highest level of annual revenues and adjusted diluted EPS in Pfizer’s long history. In addition, we just concluded a year where we provided tremendous value to society, including to both patients and shareholders. In 2021, we exceeded our goal of manufacturing 3 billion doses of Comirnaty, a monumental and unprecedented achievement by our global supply colleagues,” Pfizer CFO and EVP Frank D’Amelio said in a news release. “Finally, we have prudently deployed our capital through multiple business development transactions in recent months to advance our strategies, always with an eye toward bolstering growth in the latter half of this decade and beyond. I have never been more confident in the future of Pfizer.”
Pfizer said it expects to log adjusted EPS of $6.35 to $6.55. The company set its sales guidance for between $98 billion and $102 billion.
PFE shares were down 3.5% at 51.35 in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up 1.2%.
Filed Under: Drug Discovery, Drug Discovery and Development, Immunology, Infectious Disease
