Few would dispute that Pfizer (PFE 0.63%) is an icon within the pharmaceutical world. And, giving credit where it's due, the drugmaker largely led the charge against the COVID-19 pandemic with both a vaccine and treatment.

Anyone keeping tabs on this ticker of late, however, likely knows it's also been a disappointment since its contagion-driven peak. Indeed, thanks to more than a 60% pullback from its late-2021 high, investors that committed $10,000 to a position in Pfizer 10 years ago -- when its anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, arthritis-fighting Enbrel, pneumonia vaccine Prevnar, and nerve pain and epilepsy treatment Lyrica were still firing on all cylinders -- would now be holding just a little over $7,000 worth of this pharmaceutical stock.

Things get measurably better when factoring in any reinvested dividends paid in the meantime, though, as the chart below illustrates. The position becomes a net winner, in fact, albeit a small one. All told, reinvesting all the dividends in more shares of this stock as they were paid would leave you with just a tad over $10,600 for the 10-year time frame, although this still trails the broad market's total returns for this stretch by a country mile.

PFE data by YCharts.

Obviously, most of the setback here was suffered just since early 2022, when this position would have been worth a little more than $18,000. The market has clearly reacted to slowing sales of its COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid and its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, which hasn't been offset by equally sized growth from other drugs in its portfolio.

Just don't jump to conclusions about a stock's probable future based on its recent (and not-so-recent) past, even when that historical weakness is as dramatic and prolonged as Pfizer's has been. In this particular instance, the bears have arguably overshot their target, ignoring Pfizer's newer growth prospects, especially on the oncology front. The stock's forward-looking dividend yield of 7.5% makes a new position in this company even more compelling if you are confident of the company's future.