Pfizer Inc.’s PFE, -1.86% stock rose 3.4% before market open on Tuesday, lifted by the pharmaceutical giant’s third-quarter earnings. The company earned $1.51 a share on net income of $8.608 billion, compared with earnings of $1.42 a share and net income of $8.146 billion in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, Pfizer earned $1.78 a share, compared with $1.27 a share in the prior year’s quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of $1.39 a share. Pfizer’s third-quarter revenue was $22.638 billion compared with $24.035 billion in the prior year’s quarter, but above the FactSet consensus of $21.072 billion. “Third-quarter results demonstrated commercial strength across many areas of our business, but was somewhat obscured by the incredibly strong performance in the prior year,” said Pfizer CFO David Denton, in the earnings release. Pfizer raised the lower end of its full-year revenue guidance to $99.5 billion to $102 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast revenue of $99.7 billion. The company also raised and narrowed its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $6.40 to $6.50 a share, compared with its prior outlook of $6.30 to $6.45 a share. Pfizer also raised its full-year revenue guidance for the company’s Comirnaty COVID vaccine by $2 billion to $34 billion. The guidance includes doses expected to be delivered in fiscal 2022, primarily under contracts signed as of mid-October.
