Greg Morcroft

2022-11-01 23:12

US :PFE

 Pfizer (US:PFE) on Tuesday lifted its revenue outlook for the year, saying that it will have about $2 billion more COVID-19 vaccine sales than previously expected and now sees the Comirnaty vaccine generating $34 billion in sales this year. 

It now expects the full year 2022 revenue of $99.5 billion to $102.0 billion and said its business is growing despite negative fallout from the rising US dollar as its operations improved despite seeing a hit from a stronger dollar. 

The company also said Tuesday that its third quarter sales fell 5.8% in the third quarter, driven by some COVID-19 vaccine delivery problems in the European Union. 

For the third quarter, sales fell 5.8%, or $1.4 billion, to $22.6 billion, due to an 87% decline in Covid-19 vaccine sales outside the U.S., Pfizer said Tuesday. 

Pfizer said third quarter global vaccine sales fell to $4.4 billion, down from nearly $13 billion a year ago but topped Wall Street analysts' forecast sales of $2.6 billion. 

Among other Pfizer products,  revenue for breast cancer treatment Ibrance dropped 7% to roughly $1.3 billion, while Xeljanz dropped by 18% to $502 million. 

Pfizer expects its COVID-19 products to "remain multibillion-dollar revenue generators for the foreseeable future, which should serve as a buffer for any unforeseen challenges with other products in our portfolio," Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said. He said that Pfizer continues to update its portfolio of Covid-19 treatments. 

Regarding the rest of the third quarter results, Pfizer reported net income of $8.6 billion, or $1.51 a share, compared with $8.1 billion, or $1.42 a share, for the previous year. Absent special items, the drug company's earnings came in at $1.78 a share. Analysts polled had been expecting $1.39 a share. 

"We believe we not only can overcome these expected declines but also can potentially generate strong growth through the end of the decade," Bourla said.