As of about 6:35 PM IST (13:05 GMT), Tuesday 3 November 2026. Figures are attributed to the sources that published them; anything not independently confirmed is flagged.
Pfizer reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations on Tuesday 3 November and raised its full-year forecasts. Strong sales of its blood thinner Eliquis and cancer drug Padcev offset another steep fall in Covid product revenue. The company also confirmed Cecile Guegan, a two-decade company veteran, as chief financial officer.
The numbers
- Revenue: $16.58 billion, against $15.87 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG and roughly flat on a year earlier.
- Adjusted earnings per share: 87 cents, against 73 cents expected, and unchanged from a year earlier.
- Reported net income: $3.24 billion, or 56 cents a share, down from $3.54 billion, or 62 cents.
- Excluding Covid vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral Paxlovid, revenue grew 7% operationally, Pfizer said.
- Revenue from its group of recently launched and acquired products grew 32% operationally.
What drove the quarter
- Eliquis: sales of $2.52 billion, up 25%, ahead of the $2.40 billion StreetAccount estimate cited by CNBC. Pfizer attributed the gain mainly to higher net prices in the US, including lower rebates, and to global demand.
- Padcev: $720 million, up 55% operationally, against an expected $658 million.
- Other gainers: the Vyndaqel family (up 12%), migraine drug Nurtec (up 33%) and lung cancer drug Lorbrena (up 43%).
- Decliners: Paxlovid fell 63% to $449 million and Comirnaty fell 29% to $808 million, though both beat analyst estimates. The Prevnar vaccine family fell 10%.
Guidance raised
- 2026 revenue: now $62 billion to $64 billion, up from $60.5 billion to $62.5 billion.
- 2026 adjusted EPS: now $2.95 to $3.05, up from $2.80 to $3.00. Reuters said analysts had expected $2.96 and $62.17 billion.
- The outlook includes a one-time $650 million charge, about 10 cents a share, tied to Pfizer's licensing deal with Innovent Biologics.
- Pfizer expects about $1.1 billion of revenue pressure this year from generic and biosimilar competition and plans no share buybacks in 2026.
Chief executive Albert Bourla said Pfizer was "well positioned to drive growth toward the end of the decade". The company is targeting about $9.7 billion of net cost savings through 2029.
The bigger picture
Pfizer is trying to rebuild growth as pandemic sales fade and patents on big products, including Eliquis and Ibrance, approach expiry later this decade. It has leaned on acquisitions and licensing, including its purchase of obesity drug developer Metsera last year. Guegan had been interim CFO since August, when Dave Denton left to become CFO of Nike.
At the time of writing we could not confirm a firm pre-market share move. Pfizer was due to hold its earnings call at 10:00 AM US Eastern time (8:30 PM IST).
What to watch
- Management's comments on the obesity pipeline and on US drug pricing on the call.
- Whether Eliquis pricing gains hold as generic competition grows outside the US.
- How investors weigh the raised outlook against flat year-on-year revenue.
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