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Pfizer sees booming 4Q
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January 19, 1999: 7:42 p.m. ET
With Viagra sales strong, drugmaker's revenues come in above estimates
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. posted a better-than-expected fourth quarter profit Tuesday, thanks in part to strong sales from its popular anti-impotence drug Viagra.
The company reported net income of $634 million, or 49 cents per share, an increase of 14 percent from the comparable quarter last year.
Excluding unusual items, profit jumped 42 percent to $711 million, or 54 cents per diluted share, above analysts' expectations of 52 cents per share, as compiled by tracking firm First Call.
The New York City-based Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said total revenues for the fourth quarter of 1998 were nearly $3.9 billion, a 26 percent increase from year-ago figures. Pfizer said the strong U.S. dollar depressed the value of overseas sales, curbing growth by two percentage points.
Year-over-year global pharmaceutical sales jumped 31 percent to about $3.4 billion, while U.S. drug revenues bounded 38 percent higher to $2.06 billion, the company said.
"Pfizer's fourth-quarter results were a little better than our optimistic expectations and show the company is in very, very good condition with its biggest drugs going strong," said Sergio Traversa, a drug analyst at the New York research firm Mehta Partners.
Viagra, launched in April 1998, contributed much of the growth. It had fourth-quarter global sales of $236 million and full-year sales of $788 million. Traversa said annual Viagra sales, based upon current growth trends, are likely to hit $2 billion by the year 2001.
"That may be below the bullish $5 billion or $10 billion annual forecasts that some analysts had originally made for Viagra, but $2 billion is an impressive reward for Pfizer," Traversa said.
For the full year, revenues reached $13.5 billion, a 23 percent increase over 1997. Net income was up 27 percent at $2.6 billion, or $2.00 per diluted share, a 26 percent increase. Excluding unusual items, annual profits totaled $3.3 billion, or $2.55 per share.
Shares of Pfizer Tuesday shed 1/16 to115-7/8.
-- from staff and wire reports
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Pfizer
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