Another take...
Viagra Maker's Profits Soar
By PHIL GALEWITZ AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Despite slowing sales of its impotence-treatment drug
Viagra, Pfizer Inc. (PFE - news) more than doubled its profits in the
third quarter, the company said Tuesday.
Pfizer earned $1.40 billion, or $1.06 a diluted share, in the third
quarter ended Sept. 27, up 134 percent from $596 million, or 46 cents a
share, in the same period last year.
Pfizer's sales rose 21 percent to $3.3 billion.
Results came in below analysts' expectations, however, partly because it
had a lower tax rate a year ago. In advance of the report, which was
released after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange,
Pfizer tumbled $5.50 to close at $87.50 a share.
Sales of Viagra, the fastest-selling new drug ever when it was launched
in April, were $141 million in the third quarter. That was down sharply
from the $411 million in the second quarter.
Year-to-date Viagra sales totaled $551 million. So far more than 5
million prescriptions have been written for 3 million patients. The
company said it was not surprised that sales have slowed from its record
initial pace.
Pfizer said its remained comfortable with analysts earnings estimates of
$2.05 a share to $2.10 a share from its continuing operations in 1998.
In the third quarter, earnings from continuing operations rose 15
percent to $667 million, or 51 cents a diluted share.
It expects fourth-quarter profits to be bolstered by an increase in
Viagra sales as a result of an advertising program.
For the first nine months of the year, profits rose 64 percent to $2.72
billion, or $2.06 a diluted share, from $1.66 billion, or $1.27 a share,
a year earlier.
Revenue rose 21 percent to reach $9.6 billion.
William C. Steere, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, said
Pfizer's outlook is bright because patents on its current product line
are protected well into the next century and that the company has an
impressive mix of products under development. |
