A continuing decline in sales of COVID-19 products clips revenue at Pfizer

Pfizer losses were not as great as expected in the third quarter, but a continued decline in sales of its COVID-19 products clipped revenue.

Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday reported a $2.38 billion quarterly loss, or 42 cents per share. Adjusted for one-time gains or losses, the New York company lost 17 cents per share, a much narrower loss than the 42 cents that Wall Street had expected, according to a survey of industry analysts by FactSet.

The company expects lower revenue overall this year due to sales declines for its COVID-19 products, Paxlovid and Comirnaty.

Two weeks ago, Pfizer warned that sales of its COVID-19 drugs were weaker than it had expected and it cut its annual revenue expectations by $9 billion.

Falling sales of both trimmed sales in the second quarter, but Pfizer said in August that it expected a rebound in the second half of 2023.

Pfizer’s third quarter revenue of $13.23 billion fell short of analyst expectations for $13.77 billion.

“We are encouraged by the strong performance of Pfizer’s non-COVID products in the third quarter of 2023, including significant contributions from new launches and robust year-over-year growth for several key in-line brands,” said CEO Albert Bourla. “We also have achieved several recent milestones that speak to the underlying strength and breadth of our scientific pipeline.”

Pfizer expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.45 to $1.65 per share, with revenue in the range of $58 billion to $61 billion.

Shares were essentially flat before the opening bell Tuesday.