By Josh Nathan-Kazis

Wall Street's faith in Pfizer, credited just a few years ago with saving the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, has evaporated.

The stock is sitting at levels it hasn't seen since 2012, trades at one of the lowest earnings multiples among its peers, and most of the investment bank analysts who cover the company tracked by FactSet rate it a Hold.

The company reports its first-quarter financial results on Tuesday, and executives will do their best to ease investor worries. It won't be easy.

Coming into the week, shares were down 14% this year and 11% over the past 12 months. Its April 10 closing price of $21.59 was the lowest close for the stock since July 2012.

At least one potential bright spot has dimmed since the company's last financial report in February. Pfizer said on April 14 that it was dropping its troubled oral obesity drug candidate danuglipron over concern about the risk of liver damage. Pfizer had once touted its obesity pill candidates as potential mega-blockbusters for the company, but the effort has delivered one disappointment after another since 2023.

Analysts expect Pfizer to report sales of $13.9 billion for the first quarter, and earnings of $0.67 per share. That would represent a 19% drop in earnings compared with the same quarter last year, when the company reported earnings of $0.82 per share.

In a note on Friday, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger wrote he was cutting his expectations for Pfizer's first quarter earnings to $0.59 per share from $0.62 per share after Bristol Myers Squibb reported sales of the blood thinner Eliquis that slightly missed expectations last week. Pfizer and Bristol share Eliquis revenue.

Pfizer has told investors to expect revenue of between $61 billion and $64 billion this year, and adjusted diluted earnings of between $2.80 and $3.

Pfizer faces longstanding threats from a series of patent expirations that will significantly eat away at its revenue through the end of the decade. New external threats, however, will likely be at the front of investor minds on Thursday. President Donald Trump has promised sector-specific tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry, and wider tariffs are already in place.

Other concerns include policy questions around new proposals for drug price reform and the ongoing impact of Medicare price negotiations.

The company is hosting an investor call at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at josh.nathan-kazis@barrons.com

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April 28, 2025 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT)

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