Pfizer says its second quarter earnings rose 7 per cent, fuelled by strong sales of some of its major drugs.
Net income for the quarter ending June 30th rose to $1.96 billion, or 32 cents a share, from $1.83 billion, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.
The performance matched the predictions of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. Revenues rose 5 per cent to $8 billion from $7.6 billion a year earlier.
Sales of the cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor rose 24 per cent to $1.8 billion, while revenues from Viagra grew 10 per cent to $385 million.
For the first half of the year, Pfizer said, revenues rose 8 per cent to $16.5 billion from $15.2 billion a year earlier.
Net income increased to $3.9 billion, or 63 cents a share, from or $3.8 billion, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.
Pfizer, which is buying Pharmacia Corporation for $60 billion in stock, also refined its full-year earnings forecast.
The company says it expects earnings to hit $1.58 a share, a 21 per cent increase over 2001. Analysts had been expecting between $1.56 a share and $1.60 a share.
PA