Pfizer’s Yield: A Slow Turning

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Pfizer [PFE 3.36%] gave a little ground today, a dip of 3.3% by mid-morning. It’s the way of things, isn’t it? A company can deliver, and still feel the pull of the market’s tide. They reported earnings better than expected, a small victory in a season of shifting sands.

The forecasts called for fifty-seven cents a share on sixteen-point-eight billion in sales for the last quarter. What Pfizer brought in was sixty-six cents on seventeen-point-six billion. A good harvest, by most measures. But the fields aren’t yielding as abundantly as they once did.

The Weight of Future Years

That’s the surface of it. Dig a little deeper, and you find the weight of expectations, the shadow of what’s to come. While the numbers on sales and adjusted earnings were favorable, the generally accepted accounting principles – the cold, hard truth of the ledger – showed a quarterly loss of twenty-nine cents a share. Sales, overall, dipped one percent from the year before. A slow erosion, like the coastline giving way to the sea.

Looking ahead to 2025, the picture is mixed. Sales declined two percent. Yet, a profit was recorded, a dollar-thirty-six per share, though down three percent. The company points to the waning demand for Covid vaccines – Paxlovid and Comirnaty – as the cause. Take those sales away, they say, and revenue would have grown nine percent. It’s a convenient accounting, isn’t it? To subtract the very thing that propped up the numbers in the first place. Still, the company claims solid results, and speaks of excellent execution. A man can always find a way to frame the land he tills.

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A Question of Value

Pfizer reaffirmed their sales guidance for 2026 – between fifty-nine-point-five and sixty-two-point-five billion. Wall Street wants sixty-one. A small difference, perhaps, but the market is a creature of precise demands. More troubling is the earnings guidance, which falls short of expectations. Analysts want two-ninety-seven a share; Pfizer promises two-eighty to three – two-ninety at the midpoint. It’s a subtle difference, but enough to cast a shadow.

But should investors be disappointed? That’s the question that lingers, like dust motes in the afternoon sun. Two-ninety a share would value Pfizer at less than nine times earnings. They pay a dividend yield of 6.5 percent – and haven’t cut it in fifteen years. A steady hand in turbulent times. Even modest growth should be enough to turn this stock into a worthwhile investment.

Given time, and a little patience, I suspect Pfizer will find a way. The land remembers, and yields its bounty to those who wait. It always does.

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2026-02-03 19:25