The world’s leading drug maker, Pfizer, has issued a mixed earnings report on its fourth quarter of the 2020 fiscal year that slightly missed stock experts’ prediction.
However, investors were surprisingly upbeat on Pfizer’s sales prediction from its COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, as the company disclosed that it expected the vaccines to generate around $15 billion in 2021. Stock experts had earlier anticipated that it would earn $12.7 billion in 2021.
Pfizer’s most recent result revealed that the fourth-quarter adjusted diluted earnings per share of 42 cents, below the 50 cents analysts expected.
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Revenues for the fourth quarter were $11.7 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $11.5 billion.
Frank D’Amelio, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Supply, stated:
- “I am very pleased with how our company performed in 2020, and particularly in the fourth quarter, where we achieved double-digit operational revenue growth driven by a wide range of products and geographies, including growth within all of our therapeutic areas.
- “I was also pleased that Pfizer completed the transaction to combine Upjohn with Mylan to form Viatris in the fourth quarter, which I believe positions both Pfizer and Viatris for a bright future.
- “I feel confident in our ability to continue to perform well and deliver on our commitments in 2021 and beyond, both to our patients and to our shareholders.
- “The company is working round the clock in order to deliver two billion doses of the vaccine this year alone at a breakneck pace as nations rush to sign supply deals in an effort to control the worst pandemic seen in humanity taking to account it had killed over 2 million people globally.”
READ: COVID-19: Pfizer’s vaccine shipments begin in the US
Edward Jones analyst, Ashtyn Evans, told Reuters, “2021 earnings and sales will see a significant benefit from the vaccine, and this benefit could increase throughout the year.”
Pfizer also revealed it had supplied 65 million doses worldwide and 29 million doses in the world’s largest economy, the US, as of Jan. 31. It expects to supply 200 million doses to the U.S. government by the end of May.
Its biggest contracts so far have charged countries around $19 per dose. Pfizer and BioNTech split the gross profit from the vaccine by half under their partnership agreement.
At the time of writing this report, Pfizer shares were down 2.63%, trading at $34.86 at the New York Stock exchange, as investors, pulled back some of their long positions.
