Earnings Preview: All eyes on the Pfizer-Glaxo JV

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is scheduled to report earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2018 on Tuesday, January 29, before market open. Wall Street expects the pharma giant to report earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $13.7 billion.

The company has consistently beat earnings estimates over the past four quarters and can be expected to do so this time too. For the fourth quarter, the momentum from Pfizer’s key brands Eliquis, Ibrance, Xeljanz and Prevnar, is expected to continue. The key brands are likely to drive revenue growth with support from biosimilars.

Product losses of exclusivity, legacy Hospira supply shortages and a decline in legacy Established Products in developed markets will continue to hurt Pfizer. The company faces competitive pressures in the CDK inhibitor category as well as from generic drugs.

Earlier in the week, Pfizer was downgraded from Buy to Neutral by UBS analyst Navin Jacob who raised concerns about the company’s patent cliffs for many of its key products. In November, Pfizer lost a patent war in the UK for its drug Lyrica.

The biggest development during the quarter was the joint venture between Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) on their consumer health businesses. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year and the combined entity will be a giant in the consumer health sector. This will be a key point to watch out for during the results announcement.

Pfizer’s stock drops after Q3 revenue misses estimates despite earnings beat

In the third quarter, Pfizer topped estimates on earnings but missed on revenues. Revenue inched up slightly to $13.3 billion, helped by growth in key brands, while adjusted earnings rose 15% to $0.78 per share.

Pfizer’s peers Allergan (AGN) and Amgen (AMGN) are also set to report their earnings results on Tuesday. Over the past three months, Pfizer’s stock has dropped over 5%. As of 2 pm ET, the stock was down slightly by 0.54%.

Browse through our earnings calendar and get all scheduled earnings announcements, analyst/investor conference and much more!