Unexpected demand for Pfizer Inc.’s Covid vaccine helped the company beat quarterly expectations. Then Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been a vocal opponent of the company’s top-selling shot, got one step closer to becoming U.S. health secretary.
The news about Kennedy’s nomination moving forward came during Pfizer’s fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, where executives were explaining how the company’s Covid pill and vaccine outperformed Wall Street’s forecast and should continue to bring in around $10 billion a year. Kennedy, who has described Pfizer’s top-selling shot as the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” had cleared a key Senate committee on the way to confirmation as the next head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
“I focus not on the things where we clearly disagree, like vaccines, but on the things where we can agree and we can do together,” Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in response to the first of a series of analyst questions about Kennedy.
Kennedy is likely to have a more “tempered” view on vaccines if he’s confirmed as secretary, Bourla said, adding that Pfizer is “cautiously optimistic.”
Investors didn’t share that sentiment. Pfizer’s shares, which had risen early Tuesday morning, dropped as much as 2.3% after the committee’s vote on Kennedy.
The news overshadowed what was an incrementally positive result for Pfizer, which is working to fend off criticism from an activist investor that has argued the company squandered its pandemic gains and needs a new path forward. Fourth-quarter sales of the Covid vaccine and pill were around $550 million more than analysts had expected, bolstering management’s case that Pfizer has settled into a stable new normal after years of volatile results.
The Covid boost helped the drugmaker beat quarterly sales projections. Pfizer’s fourth-quarter sales of $17.8 billion was ahead of analysts’ expectations for $17.3 billion. Adjusted earnings were 63 cents, outpacing analyst consensus of 47 cents.
Covid gains also helped make up for a worrisome miss from one of Pfizer’s new products, a vaccine for RSV that’s been viewed as a driver of future growth. That shot, Abrysvo, brought in $198 million in the quarter, missing expectations by more than $300 million. Pfizer’s RSV vaccine has struggled to compete with one from GSK Plc in a market that now also includes Moderna Inc.
Other vaccine makers fell on the Kennedy news Tuesday, including Moderna, Novavax Inc. and BioNTech SE, Pfizer’s partner on the Covid shot. Kennedy’s advancement is a clear negative for the vaccine industry, according to analysts at Leerink Partners, creating a risky regulatory environment.
“RFK Jr. has a history of challenging accepted scientific conclusions, including the utility and safety of vaccines, and he has espoused healthcare treatments which lack scientific validation,” Leerink analyst David Risinger wrote in a note to clients.
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Covid Fade
Pfizer has struggled to win over investors as its once-soaring Covid business has dwindled in recent years. A series of multibillion-dollar acquisitions have yet to yield new blockbusters, and Pfizer’s internal pipeline has generated little in the way of excitement. The company’s shares have fallen by more than 50% since their pandemic peak in 2021.
In October, activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a $1 billion stake in the company, accusing management of destroying more than $20 billion of value and saying that replacing Bourla “could make sense.” Pfizer got a reprieve in late January when Starboard didn’t nominate its own slate of directors to the company’s board, but the activist could still agitate for changes in 2026.
Among Pfizer’s biggest drugs, its blockbuster pneumonia vaccine franchise Prevnar and top-selling cancer drug Ibrance met sales expectations in the quarter. The blood-thinner Eliquis and rare disease treatment Vyndaqel beat the Street’s projections, but both are expected to decline in the years ahead. Adcetris, a cancer drug acquired in Pfizer’s $43 billion acquisition of Seagen, missed analysts’ expectations.
Pfizer reiterated its full-year guidance, forecasting 2025 sales from $61 billion to $64 billion. The company forecast annual adjusted earnings from $2.80 to $3.00 a share. Pfizer is cutting about $6 billion from its expenses through 2027.