Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is scheduled to release its third-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.51 in earnings per share (EPS) on $11.56 billion in revenue. The third quarter from the previous year had $0.57 in EPS on $12.30 billion in revenue.
This stock could be offering investors a great value at current trading levels. Pfizer increased its product line earlier this year with a gigantic $15.2 billion purchase of Hospira, which is a top provider of sterile injectable drugs infusion technologies and biosimilars.
Pfizer’s drug Ibrance was approved for advanced breast cancer by U.S. regulators more than two months ahead of schedule, letting the drug-maker proceed with one of its most promising new blockbusters, a turn of events that Wall Street likes. With a strong pipeline and the fact that Pfizer is the world’s largest drug manufacturer by sales, many analysts feel the company can generate higher long-term revenues through the accelerated growth of its new drugs over the next five years, with Ibrance leading the way.
The company has announced that it is starting 20 clinical trials this year, and more soon after, as it also seeks to gain leadership in one of the hottest, and most lucrative, areas of medicine. Pfizer currently has eight approved cancer medicines, four of them launched in the past four years. It is running late-stage patient tests on five of those drugs for additional uses and has three other drugs in late-stage testing, which is usually the last round before seeking regulatory’ approval. In addition, the company has 14 other drug programs in early stages.
Ahead of the earnings report a few analysts weighed in on this pharmaceutical giant:
- Cowen upgraded to an Outperform rating from Market Perform and raised its price target to $43 from $25.
- Morgan Stanley upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target to $38 from $35.
- BMO Capital Markets reiterated an Outperform rating with a $41 price target.
So far in 2015, Pfizer has outperformed the market, with the stock up 12% year to date. However, over the past 52-weeks the stock is up 23%.
Shares of Pfizer were last seen up 0.5% at $34.22 Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $39.89 and a 52-week trading range of $28.47 to $36.46.
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