Pfizer's latest quarter beat Wall Street's forecasts, and the numbers show why. Drugs that have nothing to do with Covid are doing the heavy lifting.
On Tuesday, Aug 4, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 77 cents. That number, which strips out one-time items, beat the 68 cents that analysts expected.
The top line came to $15.03 billion, a 3% increase compared with the prior-year quarter. It also came in above the $14.41 billion that Wall Street had been looking for.
Eliquis, the blood thinner, brought in $2.43 billion, a 19% jump that exceeded forecasts. Analysts had modeled $2.08 billion.
The targeted cancer drug Padcev also posted higher sales, while recently launched and acquired products contributed an additional $3.2 billion to quarterly revenue. Pfizer pointed to a projected $1.5 billion rise in non-Covid product sales this year as the reason it lifted its outlook even as Covid demand fades.
The quarter also came with a catch. Pfizer closed the quarter with a $248 million net loss, or 4 cents a share.
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The year-ago quarter brought earnings of $2.91 billion, or 51 cents a share.
Most of the quarter's red ink came from a $4.3 billion noncash impairment charge, which followed Pfizer's reduced revenue forecasts for some products. The main cause was poor late-stage trial outcomes for sigvotatug vedotin, an experimental therapy studied in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who had already received treatment.
The write-down also incorporated the removal of expected revenue for Oxbryta, its sickle cell disease therapy, following recent talks with the FDA. The company withdrew that drug from the market in 2024.
Covid drugs are shrinking too. Pfizer also pared back its full-year Covid revenue outlook: Comirnaty, the vaccine, and Paxlovid, the antiviral pill, are now expected to bring in $4 billion rather than about $5 billion.
Incoming interim CFO Cecile Guegan said low Covid rates could keep limiting use of Paxlovid, and the company expects most Comirnaty sales to come near year-end, during vaccination season.
Even with that drag, Pfizer hiked the low end of its full-year revenue forecast to $60.5 billion from $59.5 billion. The range now sits at $60.5 billion to $62.5 billion, essentially unchanged or a bit below the $62.6 billion recorded in 2025.
The company repeated its guidance for adjusted annual earnings, expecting $2.80 to $3 per share. CEO Albert Bourla said the strong first half and the company's cost discipline leave him confident in the business.
Pfizer is also cutting costs. Two separate efforts are expected to produce an extra $2.5 billion in savings, starting in 2027 and running through 2029.
The first phase of the company's cost-cutting plan is still expected to save $1.5 billion by the end of 2027. A second phase targets about $1.5 billion more by 2029, focusing on improvements to the product lineup, changes to the network footprint, and operational efficiencies.
A separate cost program adds $1 billion in savings for 2027 through 2029. That is on top of the $5.7 billion the company previously expected to save by the end of this year.
Pfizer is also spending to grow. The $10 billion purchase of Metsera is a bet that new pipeline products can offset the downturn in Covid product sales and the drop-off from older drugs.
Market watchers are focused on several key data readouts from Pfizer this year, including a combination regimen that pairs its GLP-1 treatment with an amylin asset.
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