|
Pfizer, J&J profits rise
|
 |
July 17, 2001: 2:06 p.m. ET
Pfizer edges estimates for 2Q earnings, revenue; J&J earnings up 16%
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Pharmaceutical sector earnings got off to a solid start Tuesday, as Pfizer Inc. beat Wall Street's expectations and reaffirmed yearly guidance and Johnson & Johnson saw its second-quarter earnings jump 16 percent from the year-ago period.
Pfizer (PFE: up $0.64 to $38.51, Research, Estimates), the nation's largest pharmaceutical company, earned $1.89 billion, or 30 cents per diluted share, from continuing operations excluding special items. That was a penny better than the earnings per share forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call. The company would have earned $1.44 billion, or 23 cents a share, on the same basis a year earlier if the acquisition of Warner-Lambert had been completed at that time.
Including merger costs and other special items, the company reported net income of $1.83 billion, or 29 cents per diluted share, up from $1.15 billion, or 18 cents per diluted share, a year earlier from the combined companies' operations. Pfizer said savings from its acquisition of Warner-Lambert reached $325 million in the second quarter, and that savings for the year are expected to reach $1.3 billion.
Revenue gained 10 percent to $7.69 billion, a bit above the $7.63 billion forecast. Sales of cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, its best-selling drug, rose 14 percent to $1.4 billion, while sales of its high-profile impotency treatment Viagra gained 16 percent to $351 million.
Tim Anderson, pharmaceutical analyst with Prudential Securities, said Pfizer had "a pretty decent quarter" with the company exhibiting good control over costs, which helped to counteract unfavorable exchange rates.
Click here for a look at drug stocks
Pfizer reaffirmed its previous guidance of earnings per share of $1.27-to-$1.30 per share, 25-to-27 percent growth, for 2001 and earnings per share of $1.56 or better in 2002.
"The quarter was good in that they didn't have anything negative at a time when a lot of people are wary about earnings," Anderson said.
Pfizer did say a delay in approval for its inhaled insulin product Exubera looked likely, but Anderson said the news was not big surprise and was not a big setback for the company.
J&J pharma, professional divisions strong
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: up $1.08 to $54.81, Research, Estimates) earned $1.58 billion, or 51 cents a share, excluding special items in its second quarter, up 16 percent from the year-ago period.
Analysts surveyed by First Call had forecast earnings per share of 53 cents, but SG Cowen Securities analyst Scott Wilkin said the consensus estimate may be misleading.
Wilkin said there was some confusing arising from Johnson & Johnson closing its $10.5 billion all-stock acquisition of drug maker Alza Corp. just before the end of its second quarter, and a lot of the First Call numbers did not include the Alza dilution.
A spokesman for Johnson & Johnson said it is hard for the company to say precisely what the First Call number might have been with Alza taken into account by all analysts, but said "generally the First Call numbers above 51 cents did not take into account the dilution."
Sales gained 8.8 percent to $8.34 billion, topping forecasts of $8.03 billion for the period. The company said without the impact of the change in currency exchange rates revenue would have increased 12.3 percent.
Sales of the company's pharmaceutical segment, its largest, gained 14.2 percent to $3.86 billion, while sales of its medical devices and diagnostics division gained 8.3 percent to $2.79 billion. But sales of the consumer product division slipped 1.4 percent to $1.68 billion during the period.
Wilkin said top-line numbers from the pharmaceutical and professional division were impressive and Alza's performance was better than expected.
"I though it was a rock-solid quarter," he said.
Biotech company Biogen Inc. (BGEN: up $2.79 to $52.24, Research, Estimates) also reported a rise in its second-quarter profit, beating consensus estimates by a penny. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
