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Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) released disappointing guidance for its 2024 financial results, which included the expected impact of the $43 billion Seagen acquisition. The earnings and revenue figures missed expectations, sending the company’s shares tumbling nearly 9% at the opening bell. 

Inclusion of Seagen’s Results Leads to Soft EPS and Revenue Outlook by Pfizer

Shares of Pfizer took another beating at the market open on Wednesday after the drugmaker issued an update for its guidance for 2024 earnings and revenue. The new outlook included numbers from Seagen, a cancer therapy developer set to be acquired by Pfizer for $43 billion this week.

After considering Seagen’s results, Pfizer said it now expects earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of $2.05 to $2.25 for the coming year, significantly below Wall Street’s estimate of $3.17 per share. 

The drugmaker projected full-year revenue to land between $58.5 billion and $61.5 billion, putting the midpoint below the analysts’ expectations of $62.66 billion. According to the new guidance, the revenue target included expectations of $3.1 billion from Seagen and roughly $8 billion from Pfizer’s Covid-19 treatment Comirnaty and Paxlovid.  

Pfizer’s deal to acquire Seagen is expected to close on December 14.

What Caused Pfizer’s 2023 Downturn?

Today’s plunge represents the latest in a series of blows that Pfizer investors received this year.

With a year-to-date decline of around 45%, the stock’s performance is now a far cry from 2021, when it surged more than 66% amid the unprecedented demand for COVID-19 treatments. As the world began recovering from the pandemic-induced woes, Pfizer’s sales witnessed a sharp U-turn, leading to quarterly losses this year. 

One of the stock’s recent blows came at the start of December when Pfizer announced it had stopped the trial of its twice-daily obesity drug due to significant side effects in patients. Through this endeavor, Pfizer tried to jump on the booming obesity drug trend that propelled the likes of Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to new heights. 

These two pharmaceutical companies developed a new family of anti-obesity drugs that yielded significant weight loss results with fewer side effects. The same treatments also proved effective against diabetes and showed the potential to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

As a result, Eli Lilly and Denmark-based Novo Nordisk saw their sales skyrocket this year, propelling their stock prices to all-time highs. 

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