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Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) - free report >>
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Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) - free report >>
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Pfizer (PFE) Gains 7.3% in 2024 on its Weigh-Loss Drug Pipeline
On Jul 18, Pfizer Inc.’s (PFE - Free Report) shares breached the $30 mark for the first time since October of last year, buoyed by the optimism about the company's decision to proceed with a daily oral treatment for obesity. As of yesterday, the stock has hovered around the same mark, closing the day at $29.98.
Share price of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) biopharmaceutical giant, which is part of the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, has grown 7.3% in 2024. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. While Pfizer's sales have significantly fallen since touching all-time highs in 2022, the ongoing calendar year has been kinder. Sales fell a whopping 42% in 2023. However, in first-quarter 2024, sales declined just 20% and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.4%.
Pfizer Inc. Price and Consensus
Pfizer Inc. price-consensus-chart | Pfizer Inc. Quote
Also, while PFE’s first-quarter earnings fell from $1.23 per share a year ago to 82 cents, it widely surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents. These numbers entail that PFE is doing far less badly than expected, and most of this is due to the breakthrough it is making in the obesity drugs market.
The mid-July stock breakout was a domino effect of Roche Holding AG (RHHBY - Free Report) announcing exciting results for its oral weight-loss drug. Roche, which also carries a Zacks Rank #3 said that patients who took its CT-996 drug lost 6.1% more body weight over a month than patients who took a placebo. Stock of Pfizer, which has a once-daily version of danuglipron, another oral weight loss drug, in the testing pipeline, surged on the news.
Pfizer currently has a pipeline of three clinical and several preclinical products for obesity treatment. Earlier, it had scrapped developing a version of danuglipron due to high rates of gastrointestinal side effects and a pill that caused elevated liver enzymes.
This race for finding a solution for obesity has put Pfizer back in the frame alongside fellow Big Pharma names like Eli Lilly and Company (LLY - Free Report) . Lilly currently also carries a Zacks Rank #3. However, the stock being competitive does not necessarily mean one has to buy it now.
One will have to watch how Pfizer stock performs as the company manages its pipeline and breaks new ground to evolve past the astronomical growth it saw at the height of the pandemic. The company is set to report second-quarter earnings numbers on Jul 30. That will be a good base to start the assessment.