Pfizer Inc. on Friday reported a 17 percent drop in first-quarter earnings and lowered its forecast for the rest of 2007.
The world’s largest drugmaker said net income declined to $3.4 billion, or 48 cents a share, from $4.1 billion, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier. But excluding certain costs, Pfizer would have earned 68 cents a share, beating Wall Street estimates by 11 cents a share.
Revenue rose 6 percent, to $12.5 billion, on higher drug prices and an 8 percent increase in sales of its top-selling drug, the Lipitor cholesterol pill, to $3.4 billion.
Sales of the arthritis pain drug Celebrex climbed 22 percent, to $598 million, and sales of the impotence drug Viagra increased 11 percent, to $434 million,
But sales of the blood pressure medication Norvasc, the company’s second biggest-selling drug, fell 10 percent, to $1.1 billion, after generic competition started a week before the end of the quarter.
The New York-based firm said profit this year, excluding certain costs, will be $2.08 to $2.15 a share, lower than the $2.16 a share expected by analysts.
Pfizer stock fell 10 cents Friday, to $26.97, on the New York Stock Exchange.
In other earnings news:
-Johnson Controls Inc. reported a 38 percent surge in second-quarter net income, to $228 million, or $1.14 a share, from $165 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier. The Milwaukee-based company said sales rose 4 percent, to $8.49 billion. Shares of Johnson Controls rose $4.75, 4.9 percent, to $102.35 on the NYSE.
-Xerox Corp. posted a nearly 17 percent jump in first-quarter profit, to $233 million, or 24 cents a share, from $200 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. The Stamford, Conn.-based company said sales rose 3.8 percent, to $3.84 billion.
Xerox stock rose 52 cents, 2.9 percent, to $18.60 on the NYSE.
