Pfizer Inc, the world's biggest drugmaker, reported third-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates after price increases and workforce reductions helped counter declining sales of the cholesterol pill Lipitor.
Profit excluding the costs for its purchase of Wyeth last year and other items was 54 cents a share, beating the 51 cents average estimate.
Net income fell 70 per cent to $866 million, or 11 cents a share, on acquisition charges and costs for an asbestos lawsuit, the New York-based company said today in a statement.
Revenue rose 39 per cent to $16.2 billion after adding medicines from Wyeth, missing analyst estimates by 2.9 per cent.
Lipitor sales declined 11 percent to $2.5 billion as generic copies were introduced in Canada and Spain.
Pfizer is counting on Wyeth products to offset losses when its top-selling Lipitor faces competition from cheaper copies in the US next year.
Pfizer rose 11 cents, or less than 1 per cent, to $17.73 at 9:33 am in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had increased 3.5 per cent in the 12 months before today.
The drugmaker raised its earnings forecast for the year to between $2.17 and $2.22 a share when some items are excluded, the statement said.
Pfizer said in August it expected earnings of $2.10 a share to $2.20 a share. The company reaffirmed its forecast for 2012.
Pfizer reported impairment charges of $1.5 billion related to the $68 billion purchase of Wyeth and a $701 million charge for asbestos litigation for its subsidiary Quigley Company Inc.
Quigley was denied permission to exit bankruptcy in September by a judge who found that Pfizer manipulated the bankruptcy process to benefit itself.
Pfizer announced 785 job losses in its Irish operations in May with two plants in Cork and one in Dún Laoghaire closing and its Newbridge operation shedding 275 of 1,050 staff.
Bloomberg