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2 Percent Drop In Pfizer’s Profit

May 04, 2009

The largest drug making firm of the world Pfizer Inc. has posted a loss of 2 percent in first-quarter profit. Even cost cutting did not the world's largest drugmaker as it saw big drop in sale, especially for the cholesterol fighter Lipitor. The maker of impotence treatment Viagra and stop-smoking drug Chantix also took a $397 million charge for its pending acquisition of rival Wyeth.

The prospect of declining sales of blockbuster drugs is a major reason Pfizer is acquiring Wyeth. Major drugmakers including Pfizer face steep falloffs in revenue as their moneymaking drugs lose patent protection, opening the door to competition from cheaper generics. New York-based Pfizer said it had net income of $2.73 billion, or 40 cents per share, in the first quarter. A year ago, it reported net income of $2.78 billion, or 41 cents per share. Excluding charges totaling $938 million or 14 cents per share, Pfizer's earnings per share were 54 cents, topping analyst estimates of 49 cents.

Revenue totaled $10.9 billion, down 8 percent from $11.8 billion in the first quarter of 2007. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected slightly higher revenue, at $11.1 billion. Credit Suisse analyst Catherine Arnold, in a note to investors, wrote that cost control was the main reason that Pfizer beat analysts' expectations on earnings per share. She noted expenses were $979 million lighter than her projection.