Pfizer shares tumbled more than 7% after the drugmaker forecast 2024 revenues that were below consensus estimates, as the company attempts to chart a future for growth without blockbuster Covid-19 products.
The company said on Wednesday it expected 2024 revenues to fall to between $58.5 billion and $61.5 billion.
An average of analyst estimates compiled by Reuters had seen revenues of $63.17 billion for the same period.
According to Financial Times News, when it released third-quarter earnings in October, Pfizer said it expected 2023 revenues to fall to between $58 billion and $61 billion, down from a previously issued guidance, in May this year, of $67 billion to $71 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share
The drugmaker on Wednesday said it also expected adjusted earnings per share to come in at between $2.05 and $2.25, below Reuters estimates of $3.16 per share.
After raking in billions of dollars through sales of the Covid vaccine it co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech during the pandemic and seeing share prices surge, Pfizer has struggled to reorientate its pipeline and to reassure investors about its growth potential.
- “We are acutely aware that all these uncertainties are making it difficult to project the future revenues of Pfizer — and are also affecting our stock price,” Albert Bourla, the company’s chief executive, said on a recent earnings call.
Other drugmakers
The same concerns have plagued other drugmakers whose sales surged during the pandemic, such as Moderna and Pfizer’s partner BioNTech.
In response to these concerns, Pfizer initiated a significant cost-cutting programme, worth at least $4 billion.
But an increase of $500 million in cost cutting announced on Wednesday was still not enough to please investors. New York-listed shares lost 7.3% before the open, after losing more than 44% this year.
To make up for the shortfall in its pipeline, the US drugmaker earlier this year announced plans to buy Seagen, an oncology drugmaker, for $43 billion; a deal Pfizer said it expected to close on Thursday.
