Helped by acquisition of Wyeth, Pfizer reports jump in revenue

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug company, Tuesday reported robust second-quarter earnings driven, in part, by its acquisition of Wyeth last October.

Pfizer reported a 58 percent jump in revenue, to $17.33 billion, from $10.98 billion in the comparable period a year ago, and a 9 percent increase in profits, to $2.5 billion (31 cents a share), from $2.26 billion (34 cents a share) a year ago.

Excluding 31 cents in one-time items, including the cost of integrating Wyeth's systems and employee severance, income was $4.96 billion (62 cents a share).

A large part of the boost in sales, or $584 million, was attributable to favorable foreign-exchange rates. Still more of the revenue increase was the result of addition of new products that came with the $68 billion purchase of Wyeth.

For instance, Enbrel, a Wyeth drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis, brought in $808 million in revenue for the second quarter.

That made it Pfizer's second-biggest seller, trailing only the cholesterol blocker Lipitor, which delivered $2.81 billion in revenue, up 5 percent.

Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug and the backbone of Pfizer's recent financial success, is set to lose its market exclusivity next year when its patent expires.

Pfizer's purchase of Wyeth was an effort to diversify its business and cushion it against losses of major revenue producers such as Lipitor.

At the time of the purchase, Pfizer said it expected to trim 20,000 jobs from the company's payroll as the companies merged.

"We continue to make solid progress on the Wyeth integration while we remain focused on delivering strong business performance," chief executive Jeffrey Kindler said in a statement.

Overall, the company's second-quarter performance easily beat analyst estimates. The company's 62 cents a share was a dime more than the estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by the Bloomberg New Service.

"This is a major statement by a company that has had a rough year," wrote Marc Goodman, an analyst with UBS Securities L.L.C., in a note to clients. "This is the kind of quarter that was needed to rejuvenate investor interest."