Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Tops Earnings Estimates With 20% Jump In Q1 Revenue

UPDATE: 6:45 a.m. EDT — Pfizer on Tuesday reported earnings of 67 cents a share in the first quarter of 2016, topping analysts' estimates of 55 cents a share. Revenue for the three-month period ending March 31, boosted by its cancer drug sales and acquisition of Hospira in September, also beat estimates, coming in at $13.01 billion — a jump of 20 percent over the year-earlier figure of $18.86 billion and almost $1 billion more than the Reuters' forecast of $12.02 billion.

The company also raised its full-year adjusted earnings and sales forecast. For 2016, Pfizer now expects earnings to be in a range of $2.38 to $2.48 per share — up from $2.20 to $2.30 per share, and revenue to lie between $51 billion and $53 billion — up from $49 billion to $51 billion range it projected in February.

In premarket trade, Pfizer's shares were up nearly 3 percent.

Original story:

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will report its first-quarter earnings before markets open Tuesday. The maker of Lipitor and Viagra is expected to report earnings of 55 cents a share in the three-month period ending March 31, a slight increase from the 51 cents a share it reported in the same quarter last year, according to analysts polled by Reuters.

First quarter revenue is forecast to come in at $12.02 billion — a 10.6 percent increase over $10.86 billion reported in the year-earlier period. The company, which recently scrapped its $160 billion merger with the Ireland-based Allergan after the U.S. treasury department imposed tough restrictions on so-called corporate tax inversions, is also expected to report a 47 percent jump in pretax profit, to $4.56 billion in the first quarter of 2016 from $3.08 billion in the same quarter of 2015.

Although the world’s largest pharmaceutical company’s first-quarter performance is likely to remain robust, with earnings projected to increase on both quarterly and yearly basis, its full-year revenue for 2016 may be impacted by currency fluctuations that have, in recent months, strengthened the dollar.

In February, Pfizer said it expected to take a hit of $2.3 billion in revenue, including $800 million in its business in Venezuela, due to forex headwinds.

“Consequently, we expect 2016 reported revenues to be in the range of $49 billion to $51 billion,” Pfizer’s Chief Financial Officer Frank D'Amelio said during an earnings call in February. “If you exclude anticipated foreign exchange impacts, including the negative currency impact related to Venezuela, full-year 2016 revenue and adjusted EPS guidance midpoints are 7 percent and 10 percent greater than actual full-year 2015 levels, respectively.”

On Monday, Pfizer’s shares in New York closed up 0.21 percent. Year-to-date, the company’s stock has remained flat, slightly underperforming the broader market index.