Pfizer’s earnings top estimates after cost cuts

Pfizer’s earnings top estimates after cost cuts

The drugmaker also saw growth in some non-Covid-related products including the blood clot drug Eliquis.

Pfizer EPA 040225
Pfizer paid out US$9.5 billion in shareholder dividends in 2024 but made no share repurchases. (EPA Images pic)
NEW YORK:
Pfizer reported better than expected quarterly profits today behind cost cuts and growth in some non-Covid-related products including the blood clot drug Eliquis.

Other pharmaceuticals with strong sales gains included Vyndaqel, used to treat nerve damage, and the products of Seagen, a cancer-focused company that Pfizer acquired in 2023.

“We made great progress with commercial execution and achieved growth across our product portfolio for full-year 2024,” said chief executive Albert Bourla.

Profits for fourth quarter were US$410 million compared with a loss of US$3.4 billion in the year-ago period.

Revenues rose 22% to US$17.8 billion.

Pfizer projected 2025 revenues of between US$61 and US$64 billion, compared with US$63.6 billion in 2024.

The fourth quarter concluded a year in which Pfizer executed US$4 billion in cost savings as it pivoted from the volatile pandemic years and its aftermath in which the drugmaker achieved remarkable revenues growth due to its Covid-19 vaccine and its therapeutic Paxlovid, followed by a dramatic decline in sales.

Pfizer paid out US$9.5 billion in shareholder dividends in 2024 but made no share repurchases.

The company also does not anticipate share repurchases in 2025, but indicated it could return to the policy down the road.

Pfizer is managing its business to “deploy capital toward potential value-creating business development transactions”, the company said.

Shares rose 0.2% in pre-market trading.

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