Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) on Tuesday forecast 2025 profits roughly in line with Wall Street expectations, offering some relief to investors after a tumultuous year during which it attracted criticism from activist hedge fund Starboard Value.
Shares of Pfizer rose about 2% in premarket trading after the drugmaker also said it was expecting 2025 sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and drug to be consistent with 2024 levels.
The company expects adjusted profit of $2.80 to $3 per share, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $2.88 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Pfizer has been reining in costs and shedding non-core businesses to pay down debt as it rebuilds itself after a sharp slump in sales of COVID-19 products.
Its shares have fallen nearly 12% this year and trade at less than half their value during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That has left it open to investor criticism, with Starboard in October saying that Pfizer’s management has over-spent on big acquisitions and failed to produce profitable new drugs from those deals or from its internal research and development.
Pfizer forecast 2025 revenue in the range of $61 billion to $64 billion, compared with the estimates of $63.26 billion.
The company also estimated a roughly $1 billion hit to its revenue from changes to Medicare’s Part D prescription program under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
PFE shares jumped 87 cents, or 3.4%, to $26.13.