(Reuters) -Drugmaker Pfizer beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, boosted by cost-cutting, a smaller-than-feared drop in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and strong demand for its heart drug Vyndaqel.
After the immense success of its COVID-19 products during the pandemic, Pfizer has struggled to convince shareholders that it can make up for the potential revenue loss from some top-selling treatments that are expected to go off patent soon.
The company is also under pressure from investors over its recent acquisitions, which include the $43 billion purchase of cancer drugmaker Seagen. The company has turned to cost-cutting measures as well that are expected to help it save more than $5 billion by 2027.
Pfizer’s shares rose 2% in premarket hours. The stock fell nearly 8% last year, and trades at less than half its value at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quarterly sales of cancer therapy Padcev, acquired with Seagen, came in at $444 million, compared with estimates of $440 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
COVID products are still a profit driver for Pfizer.
Revenue from antiviral treatment Paxlovid was $727 million for the quarter, while COVID vaccine Comirnaty brought in sales of $3.38 billion. Pfizer makes the Comirnaty vaccine with German partner BioNTech.
Analysts were expecting quarterly sales of $794.33 million for Paxlovid and $3.10 billion for Comirnaty.
Sales of its heart disease drug, sold as Vyndaqel and Vyndamax, came in at $1.55 billion, above estimates of $1.48 billion.
On an adjusted basis, Pfizer earned 63 cents per share for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts’ estimates of 47 cents per share.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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2025-02-04 05:53:27