Switch from selling COVID-19 drugs on market rather than to governments continues to sting at Pfizer
Pfizer released a financial outlook for next year that that doesn’t match with Wall Street expectations as sales of COVID-19 products slide. Shares tumbled more than 7% before the opening bell Wednesday.
In October, the drugmaker reported quarterly losses of more than $2 billion as falling sales of COVID-19 products clipped revenue. Sales of Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid and the vaccine Comirnaty slid 97% and 70%, respectively, during the quarter as Pfizer and other pharma companies switched to selling on the commercial market rather than to governments.
On Wednesday, the company said that it expects full-year revenue in 2024 of between $58.5 billion to $61.5 billion, short of the $62.7 billion that Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of industry analysts by FactSet.
The New York drug maker’s profit expectations are well below what many had been expecting. Pfizer expects to post per-share earnings of between $2.05 and $2.25 next year. Wall Street was projecting earnings of around $3.17 per share.