Just this morning, Pfizer Inc. release its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. The company was projected to have a stunning net income of $2.97 billion, or 52 cents per share. This marks a drop from $3.12 billion. Last year, that translated into 55 cents per share over the same stretch. The pharmaceutical giant beat earnings expectations even with a slumping revenue stream. They just released adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 92 cents, well above the expected 66 cents.
The company earned $13.72 billion in revenue for the quarter, just missing Wall Street expectations of $13.91 billion. Pfizer has a difficult market landscape to contend with. This revenue plunge comes on top of the speedy collapse of its business spun off from the company’s Covid-era enterprise over the past few years.
In response to these challenges, Pfizer has implemented a cost-cutting program projected to save approximately $4.5 billion by the end of 2025. The National Strategy on Covid is meant to help make operations more efficient while dealing with financial stress from lack of primary covid product sales. The company estimates these actions will save around $1.2 billion through the end of 2027. It further calculates that realigning its research and administrative areas could lead to approximately $500 million in cost savings by the end of 2026.
Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, emphasized the company’s resilience and adaptability in his statement regarding the financial results. Especially during volatile and politically charged times, he stressed the need to keep operational strength first.
“With the underlying strength of our business, we believe we can be agile in navigating an uncertain and volatile external environment.” – Albert Bourla
Pfizer is now projecting its earnings for 2025 to be between $2.80 and $3.00 per share. We note this estimate does not include any one-time items. The company reiterated its 2025 full-year sales goal of $61 billion to $64 billion. In 2024, the same would hold true for Pfizer’s Covid products. At the same time, the company has been trying to find ways to shore up its bottom line as it emerges from pandemic-era losses.
Pfizer’s share price, meanwhile, has tanked over the last few years. This drop reflects significant market concerns over the company’s ability to continue growing as demand for Covid-related products dries up. The company’s fate now rests on recovering swiftly from these blows, as indicated by the ongoing aggressive cost-cutting and restructuring targets, and strategic planning of Transdev.
As Pfizer’s task is to re-enforce its top line sales growth with strong cost controls on the bottom line. The pharmaceutical giant has a lot to prove as it continues to pursue its long-term vision and adjusting to the rapidly-changing market dynamics.