Hospira gives Pfizer big Q2 revenue boost as new brands Ibrance, Xeljanz offset Prevnar fall

Pfizer’s second-quarter results got a big boost from its Hospira buyout: The biosims-and-generics-focused acquisition helped drive an 11% revenue increase to $13.15 billion, beating analyst expectations.

Without Hospira, sales at the company’s Essential Health unit--previously known by the “established products” name--would have slipped by 6%, or 3% without currency setbacks, all but offsetting 7% growth in Innovative Health, Pfizer’s branded pharma business.

Overall, Pfizer would have eked out a 1% revenue rise without Hospira in the fold, 4% excluding currency effects.

Pfizer’s fast-launching breast cancer med Ibrance; its anticoagulant med Eliquis, shared with Bristol-Myers Squibb; its anti-inflammatory Xeljanz; and its longtime performer Lyrica all helped drive growth on the pharma side. Ibrance's $514 million in sales came in significantly ahead of analyst expectations of $492 million.

"Enbrel and Xeljanz were also surprisingly strong," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note Tuesday morning; Enbrel's $766 million and Xeljanz's $217 million in Q2 sales both beat estimates.

Prevnar 13, which has been churning out sales growth for Pfizer in recent quarters because of a new U.S. indication in adults, didn’t deliver this time around because the vaccine had all but captured that new target market in previous periods. But a new FDA approval, nabbed in July, could reverse that trend in the coming months.

Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson said Prevnar's $1.26 billion in Q2 sales fell short of his firm's expected $1.5 billion. "This quarter's weakness directionally fits with management's prior commentary warning of a slowdown in 2016 following the initial 'catch up' period from 2015," Anderson said in a Tuesday note.

The company reaffirmed its 2016 guidance, which calls for revenue of $51 billion to $53 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.38 to $2.48.

Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum called Pfizer's results "a good quarter," with earnings per share 3% ahead of street estimates and sales about $150 million ahead of forecasts. "The revenue beat was across multiple products," Schoenebaum noted, particularly calling out Ibrance's outperformance.

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