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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (908)	10/13/1998 7:06:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

Bloomberg: Pfizer Falls as 3rd-Qtr EPS Falls Short of Estimates (Update4) Bloomberg News October 13, 1998, 6:20 p.m. ET Pfizer Falls as 3rd-Qtr EPS Falls Short of Estimates (Update4) (Adds analyst comment in 7th through 10th paragraphs, explanation of charges in last paragraph.) New York, Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., maker of the impotence pill Viagra, fell 5.9 percent after its third-quarter profit from operations fell short of analysts' estimates, some of whom had projected higher Viagra sales than were achieved. Pfizer fell 5 1/2 to 87 1/2 after having touched 96 3/8 earlier in the day. Pfizer said profit from operations rose to $667 million, or 51 cents a share, from $579 million, or 45 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $3.33 billion, including $141 million from Viagra, from $2.74 billion a year earlier. It had been expected to earn 57 cents a share, the average of analysts polled by First Call Corp. ''Pfizer had a lot of momentum. It was the clear leader,'' said Barney Rosen, an analyst with Argus Research. ''Now people are going to start to question whether the armor has cracked in this sector.'' Introduced in April, Viagra had $411 million in second- quarter sales as wholesaler stocked up on the drug. Although prescriptions have since slowed, the drug could top $1 billion in its first full-year on the market. Still, the unprecedented early demand for the drug in the second quarter may have caused some analysts to raise expectations too high for the third quarter. ''We knew they weren't going to do as well,'' said Charles Engelberg, an analyst with AmeriCal Securities. ''The Street must have had much higher numbers for Viagra.'' Engelberg has an ''accumulate on weakness'' rating on Pfizer. He said he expected third-quarter Viagra sales of about $210 million. He also expected the company to earn about 50 cents a share. Viagra Sales Recovering U.S. Viagra sales peaked at 308,631 prescriptions in the week ended May 8, and declined to as low as 149,159 in the weekend ended Sept. 11, according to NDC Health Information Services, which monitors pharmacy sales. Since then, sales have recovered, reaching 190,538 prescriptions in the week ended Oct. 2, said NDC, a unit of Atlanta-based National Data Corp. Engelberg said the company's shares are likely to fall tomorrow. Pfizer's failure to perform as expected could have repercussions for the whole drug industry, he said. ''Pfizer is obviously the Cadillac, and they have a history of being able to manage their earnings per share better than everybody else on the Street,'' Engelberg said. ''The fact that a Pfizer could miss the estimate by six cents is going to cause everyone to reexamine their faith in drug stocks as recession- proof safe haven.'' Focus on Drugs Pfizer is becoming more focused on drug sales. It sold two medical-device businesses for a combined $2.23 billion to focus on its more profitable pharmaceuticals business. In the third quarter, a gain of $867 million and charges of $152 million made net income $1.4 billion. The charges include a $140 million, pre-tax, payment to Monsanto Co., for the licensing agreement for a Monsanto painkiller that could be the drug industry's next blockbuster. The drug, called Celebra, could start sales within a year. --Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016 with