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

To: Sonki who wrote (5959)	10/13/1998 5:44:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9523

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. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: Sonki who wrote (5959)	10/13/1998 6:01:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Sonki, try as I did, I could not locate it. It wasn't in the articles related to last quarter's earnings, neither was it in the articles about the stock buyback.

To: Sonki who wrote (5959)	10/13/1998 6:10:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

Sonki, you're right, see the bolded sentence from the following paragraph in their PR newswire: "In the past," he continued, "we noted that we were comfortable with the range of the majority of analysts' diluted earnings-per-share estimates of $2.05 to $2.10 for the year, excluding the impacts of acquisitions, divestitures, licensing fees, legal settlements and other unusual and non- recurring items. The divestiture of the MTG businesses (with earnings expected at about 10 cents per share on a full-year basis) now indicates a range of $1.95 to $2.00 per share for the full year from continuing operations, excluding unusual and non-recurring items, with which we remain comfortable. Moving forward, we expect that our strengthened commercial infrastructure, our strong and broad product line, global presence, technological sophistication and our sharp focus on the numerous opportunities in the pharmaceutical business will lead to significantly more rapid revenue growth, and strong improvements in profitability and return on investment." moneynet.com@NEWS-P1&Index=1&HeadlineURL=../News/NewsHeadlines.asp&DISABLE_FORM=&NAVSVC=News\Company