DJ: Drug Maker Pfizer's Big Jump In Earnings Fall Short Of Estimates October 13, 1998 5:30 PM
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Pharmaceutical company
Pfizer Inc., maker of the impotence drug Viagra and a
host of other products, late Tuesday announced
third-quarter earnings more than doubled but the results
fell short of analysts' expectations.
Pfizer said net income came to $1.39 billion, or $1.06 a
share on a fully diluted basis, compared with $596
million, or 46 cents a diluted share, in the year-earlier
period. Revenue increased 21% to $3.33 billion.
However the latest results included $236 million in
charges related to legal settlements, past acqusitions and
other factors. Excluding the charges, the company said it
would have posted earnings of $667 million, or 51 cents
per share. The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by
First Call was for earnings, excluding charges, of around
57 cents per share.
New York-based Pfizer said it expects to enter 1999
"well-positioned to achieve our goal of becoming the
premier research-based global pharmaceutical company
early in the next decade." William C. Steere, Jr.,
chairman and chief executive officer, said "our prospects
have never been brighter."
Sales of Viagra, which was launched in April, were
$141 million for the quarter and $551 million so far this
year. The firm said about 200,000 physicians have
written more than 5 million prescriptions for 3 million
patients. Viagra sales in the third quarter were less than
those in the second quarter.
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