Pfizer revenue and profits soar on its COVID-19 vaccine business
By Chris Isidore, CNN Business
Pfizer reported that earnings and sales more than doubled in the past quarter, and it raised its outlook for results the full year, thanks greatly to its COVID-19 vaccine.
The company reported adjusted earnings of $7.7 billion, up 133% from a year earlier. Revenue soared to $24.1 billion, up 134%. Both easily cleared results forecast by analysts.
The vaccine business alone was responsible for more than 60% of the company’s sales, as vaccine revenue rose to $14.6 billion from only $1.7 billion a year earlier. The company said its COVID vaccine sales accounted for $13 billion of that revenue. Revenue outside of its COVID vaccine business was up a far more modest 7%.
The company said it now expects full-year revenue of between $81 billion to $82 billion, up $2 billion from its earlier guidance. It also raised its earnings per share outlook by about 3% to 5% above what it had been expected to earn.
“While we are proud of our financial performance, we are even more proud of what these financial results represent in terms of the positive impact we are having on human lives around the world,” said CEO Albert Bourla in his prepared remarks for investors.
About 67% of the total US population has had a least one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 58% are fully vaccinated, according to data tracked by the Mayo Clinic. So there is still significant vaccination doses that can be administered, especially to children, many of whom are still not approved to receive the vaccine.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer for children ages 5 to 11. Final approval of the vaccine for children is up to the director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee is set to meet Tuesday, and the younger children could start to get the vaccine within days.
Pfizer says a clinical trial showed its vaccine provides more than 90% protection against symptomatic disease among children, even at one-third the dose that could be administered to children. It said another trial shows that booster doses of the vaccine for adults shows 95.6% efficacy. Older and at-risk adults have already been getting the booster doses since earlier this year.
Pfizer disclosed last week that the US government had exercised its final purchase option buy 50 million additional doses of its COVID vaccine. That brings the total number of pediatric doses of the vaccine to 115 million, which is enough to vaccinate every US child. Overall, the federal government has now purchased a total of 600 million doses across all age ranges under its supply agreement.
Shares of Pfizer were up 3% in premarket trading on the results.
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