Pfizer forecasts 2024 profit, revenue below Wall Street expectations

PFIZER on Wednesday (Dec 13) forecast 2024 revenue and profit below Wall Street expectations, sending its shares down 6 per cent in pre-market trading even as it raised cost-cut target by US$500 million.

The US drugmaker expects its annual revenue to be in the range of US$58.5 billion to US$61.5 billion compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$63.17 billion, according to LSEG data. It includes the contribution from sales of Seagen’s products.

The company also forecast adjusted profit in the range of US$2.05 to US$2.25 per share, lower than analysts’ expectation of US$3.16.

Sales of Paxlovid and the vaccine Pfizer makes with German partner BioNTech had boosted revenue over the last two years, helping it generate more than US$100 billion in 2022.

But a drop in annual vaccination rates and demand for the treatments have forced the company to launch a programme in October to cut jobs and expenses to save as much as US$3.5 billion.

The company, which employs roughly 83,000 employees globally, in November cut 500 jobs at its Sandwich, Kent site in the UK. REUTERS