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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (8228)	10/13/1999 4:46:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Pfizer 3rd-Qtr Profit Seen at 21C a Share: Earnings Outlook 10/12/99 1:26:00 PM Source: Bloomberg News New York, Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the maker of the anti-impotence pill, Viagra, is expected to report third- quarter earnings early next week. Here's a preview: Expected Earnings Pfizer's third-quarter earnings could rise to 21 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Pfizer, the No. 2 U.S. drugmaker after Merck & Co., earned 17 cents, adjusted for a three-for-one stock split, in the year- ago quarter, according to First Call. Behind the Numbers Some of Pfizer's older drugs, such as the world's top- selling high-blood-pressure medicine Norvasc, are helping boost earnings even as the company has had setbacks with other medicines. In the third quarter, Pfizer announced it would drop development of a drug for nerve damage associated with diabetes. In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Pfizer's antibiotic Trovan should be used only in patients with serious infections because of the drug's risk for liver damage. Some analysts once expected Trovan to rival the most widely prescribed antibiotics, such as Abbott Laboratories' Biaxin and Bayer AG's Cipro. Instead, the drug probably will be used only in serious cases. Trovan sales could slip from $160 million in 1998, the year it was introduced, to about $50 million a year, according to estimates published by SG Cowen. Pfizer got more bad Trovan news today when a federal jury in Los Angeles ordered the company to pay $143 million to Trovan Ltd., a U.K. maker of electronic-identification devices, for misuse of a trademark. Pfizer said it will challenge the verdict. Even so, rising sales of Norvasc and other drugs such as the antidepressant Zoloft overshadow these setbacks. Some analysts say Pfizer has the best research program in the pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer also made some of the best matches with rival drugmakers. It helped Monsanto Co. introduce the painkiller Celebrex this year. Although not more effective than older cheaper medicines, Celebrex is designed to be gentler on the stomach. That advantage alone could make Celebrex a blockbuster medicine with more than $1 billion in annual sales, analysts say. Pfizer also helps Warner-Lambert Co. market its cholesterol- reducing drug, Lipitor. Under Chief Executive William Steere, Pfizer has been channeling its profits from Norvasc and Zoloft back into building its drug research. It will spend about $2.8 billion in 1999 on the hunt for new medicines. What the Experts Say ''It's not Viagra that's driving earnings,'' said Neil Sweig, an analyst with Ryan Beck/Southeast Research, who has a ''hold'' on Pfizer shares. ''It's the older established drugs that continue to drive the company's sales and profit. Come the fourth quarter, though, you're going to see the hole Trovan has left.'' Previous Market Reaction Pfizer fell 11/16 to 37 1/8 on July 19 after reporting that second-quarter profit rose 13 percent to $709 million, or 18 cents a share. New York-based Pfizer is second only to Merck among U.S. drugmakers. Market Trend Pfizer shares have dropped 21 percent to 39 5/16 since hitting a record of 50 3/64, adjusted for a three-for-one stock split, on April 12. Earlier this year, Pfizer and other drug stocks fell out of favor with investors as signs of economic growth in Asia made other sectors, such as chemicals, more attractive. cnetinvestor.com