ALL PFE BULLS: Are we having fun yet???!!!!!
So now that we all got arthritis from excercising for hours ( in bed ) trying to “ get it up “ , “ with the help
of Viagra “ we are all ready for….CELEBRA…. ANOTHER arthritis pill. Personally I doubt it will take money- savvy Americans long to find out that they'll get the same pain relief with Tylenol or Tylenol #3 at a fraction of the cost. 99% of folks DO NOT understand that 99% of arthritis is “ degenerative “: i.e. you have an overworn, rusted part in your body. THERE IS N O T H I N G in or coming to the market that will
-stop the rusting
-restore the original glow
-renew it
-heal it.
Furthermore, “things will only get worse from her on “, unless of course “ you plan to diet , loose weight, start flexibility and conditioning general excersises a la Jack La Lane”, something that 80%? of SI thread readers?
( and Americans at large , gg ) know isn't on their radar screen anytime soon.
ALL that ALL ARTHRITIS PILLS do is, altogether now, is …….
STOP THE PAIN.
Well, as any Armani-well –dressed- $2,000,000/year-salary-HMO-CEO will tell you, “ we can do that just as well with Tylenol or Tylenol #3, Uncle Frank or Brad Anderson. We DON'T need to spend $100 or 200 on another glorified arthritis pill.
(Of course, I want to be very precise here, before Brad rains on me again, and acknowledge that there is a ? ~1% of all arthritis that is “inflammatory” in nature ( as opposed to the garden variety-99%-degenerative ) that Celebra might help. But then again you can buy Motrin for 5 bucks which at a high enough dose will do exactly the same thing.
So, were do we go from here? Back to the drawing board I guess.
As Paul Shread's sharp observation goes Message 6012651 ” at 40x earnings for a company growing at 10%? That puts it in KO's league: you've got to hold it for 4-5 years for it to be anywhere near historical valuations at these prices “, we go to Neil l's post that “ Message 6005969 “ In the latest SmartMoney, an article about dream stocks lists PFE @ 46 as a fair valuation based on its growth rate “.
I said the same thing, ~3 months ago. Zebra are you out there? I hope you didn't cover your shorts.But if you did, you'll get a chance to do it again,GG.
TA
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Today's Wall Street Journal:http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB908286674648345000.htm
Pfizer Reports Disappointing Earnings;
Drug Sales Boost Johnson & Johnson
By ANDREA PETERSEN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Pfizer Inc. reported disappointing third-quarter earnings, in part because of weaker-than-expected demand for the company's blockbuster impotence drug Viagra.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson's third-quarter earnings were in sync with analysts' expectations, nudged along by roaring sales of the company's Procrit anemia drug and oral contraceptives.
Wall Street may have anticipated Pfizer's bad news. Tuesday, Pfizer shares fell $5.50, or 6%, to $87.50 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, though earnings weren't released until after the market closed.
Pfizer said net income more than doubled to $1.4 billion from $596 million a year earlier, partly because of gains from selling a number of its medical-technology units. Earnings per share rose to $1.06 a diluted share, from 46 cents a diluted share a year earlier.
But excluding one-time items, earnings rose only 15% to $667 million from $579 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were 51 cents a diluted share, up 13% from the 45 cents reported a year earlier. A consensus of First Call analysts had expected earnings of 57 cents a share. Analysts said part of the gap between earnings and expectations was because Pfizer didn't include earnings from the device business it sold this quarter. Even so, profit still fell short of expectations.
"No matter how you slice it, a 13% earnings gain is a disappointing number," said Hemant Shah, a pharmaceutical analyst with HKS & Co.
Analysts were surprised by the extent to which Viagra's sales hurt results, especially in light of Pfizer's aggressive direct-to-consumer advertising for the drug. Analysts had expected some slowdown in Viagra sales as the initial excitement over the product faded, but not to this degree. Viagra sales for the quarter were $141 million, down from more than $400 million in the second quarter.
Pfizer said Viagra sales were down because wholesalers had high inventories, and it also cited lower prescription levels for the drug, which Pfizer had expected.
Results were also hurt by a higher tax rate and soaring expenses. Expenses rose in part because of huge investments in increasing the company's sales force.
Moreover, the New York company had $236 million in pretax charges, including payments to Monsanto Co.'s Searle unit related to an arthritis drug the two companies will comarket. Overall expenses for selling and administrative purposes increased by 26% to $1.3 billion.
Pfizer's overall revenue grew 21% to $3.33 billion, from $2.75 billion.
The company said expenses increased because it was investing in future products and that its long-term prospects were bright. Sales of other drugs posted big gains, including the antidepressant Zoloft, the cardiac drug Norvasc and the antibiotic Zithromax. The company also said it expects its consumer-advertising campaign to boost future Viagra sales.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., said net income jumped more than 12% to $961 million from $855 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 11% to 70 cents a diluted share, from 63 cents a diluted share a year earlier, meeting the consensus of analysts surveyed by First Call.
The swift sales of Procrit, analysts said, were partly because of the drug's growing acceptance among cancer and AIDS patients. "It had an outstanding performance and it raised some eyebrows. J&J told us this had the potential to be a $2 billion drug and now that looks like a legitimate possibility," said Michael Weinstein of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. Neil Sweig, a drug analyst at Southeast Research Partners Inc., expects world-wide sales of Procrit to reach $1.45 billion this year.
Analysts said they expect earnings of about 49 or 50 cents for the fourth quarter and look forward to new products slated for 1999. The company is launching Benecol, a cholesterol-lowering margarine, next month in one market with a nationwide rollout expected in January 1999. "The fact that it reduced cholesterol is certainly compelling," said Barney Rosen, a drug analyst at Argus Research. "But we need to see more information." J&J also recently filed for FDA approval of a promising treatment for multiple sclerosis, Cladribine.
J&J's sales grew 2.5% to $5.72 billion, compared with $5.59 billion a year earlier. The company said overseas sales were hurt by the strong dollar. J&J's professional-products division continued to be hurt by competition in the cardiac-stent business.
In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, J&J closed up $1.3125 to $77.75.
--Robert Langreth contributed to this article.
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