Pfizer Posts First Quarterly Revenue Growth Since Peak COVID Vaccine Sales

Pfizer (PFE) shares rose Tuesday after the pharmaceutical giant beat second-quarter revenue expectations and raised its full-year guidance.

The company upped its projected 2024 revenue midpoint by $1 billion to a range of $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion and raised its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) midpoint by 30 cents to between $2.45 and $2.65. The revenue projections include $5 billion from its COVID vaccine Comirnaty and $3.5 billion from its COVID drug Paxlovid.

Pfizer‘s second-quarter revenue of $13.28 billion was up 2% year-over-year and above analysts’ consensus expectations of $13.04 billion, according to Visible Alpha. EPS of 1 cent was below projections of 22 cents, but adjusted EPS of 60 cents topped estimates of 46 cents.  

Growth in Revenue From Non-COVID Products

“This was Pfizer’s first quarter of topline revenue growth, on a year-over-year basis, since the fourth quarter of 2022 when our COVID revenues peaked,” Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Denton said. “Importantly, the strong 14% operational revenue growth of our non-COVID products in the second quarter demonstrates our continued focus on commercial execution.”

Pfizer also said it expects to generate at least $4 billion in net cost savings by the end of the year and pointed to the launch of a manufacturing optimization program that it projects to save $1.5 billion by the end of 2027. 

Shares of Pfizer rose 2.3% to $31.43 as of 2:26 p.m. ET Tuesday. They’re up about 9% so far in 2024.