(Reuters) – Pfizer announced on Tuesday that it forecast profits for 2025 in line with Wall Street expectations, relieving investors at the end of a tumultuous year, during which the group notably came under criticism from activist hedge fund Starboard Value.

In pre-market trading, the stock gained around 2%, after Pfizer said it expected sales in line with 2024 levels for 2025 for its COVID-19 vaccine.

The US pharmaceutical company also forecast adjusted earnings of $2.80 to $3 per share (2.67 to 2.86 euros), while analysts had expected an average of $2.88 per share, data showed. from LSEG.

Faced with a sharp drop in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid, Pfizer launched a cost-cutting program last year and shed non-core businesses to pay down debt.

In October, Starboard Value accused Pfizer management of overspending on acquisitions and failing to produce profitable new drugs from those deals or from its internal research and development activities. .

“While we see several assets in Pfizer’s portfolio (particularly in oncology) that could make the story more interesting, we believe additional progress… will be needed to change the current narrative on the stock, which which would mainly occur from 2026 onwards,” JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott wrote in a research note.

Pfizer forecasts revenue of between $61 billion and $64 billion for 2025, while analysts expect $63.26 billion.

The company also estimated that changes to the Medicare Part D prescription program, as part of US President Joe Biden’s inflation reduction law, would have an impact of about $1 billion on its figure. business.

(Written by Mariam Sunny and Manas Mishra in Bangalore, Michael Erman in New York; Etienne Breban; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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