Pfizer stock falls after profit beats but revenue misses, even as COVID-19 vaccine sales of $12.5 billion top forecasts

Shares of Pfizer Inc. PFE, +0.40% sank 2.6% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the drug maker reported fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations, while revenue more than doubled but missed forecasts. The company also provided a full-year outlook that was below analyst projections, but raised its sales guidance for its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty developed with BioNTech SE BNTX, -2.13%. Net income jumped to $3.39 billion, or 59 cents a share, from $847 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.08 from 43 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 87 cents. Revenue grew 104.9% to $23.84 billion, but missed the FactSet consensus of $24.16 billion, with Comirnaty contributing $12.5 billion in sales to beat expectations of $12.38 billion. For 2022, the company raised its sales outlook for Comirnaty to $32 billion from $31 billion, and expects $22 billion of revenue for its oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid. Overall, the company expect adjusted EPS of $6.35 to $6.55, below the current FactSet consensus of $6.71, and expects revenue of $98.0 billion to $102.0 billion, below expectations of $103.2 billion. The stock has rallied 10.1% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.37% has lost 4.6%.