Friday, September 15, 2006

Pfizer Exec Says Co On Track To Meet Financial Targets

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Vice Chairman David L. Shedlarz said Tuesday that the company has made substantial progress revamping its management structure and is on track to meet its financial targets.

"We believe we will be able to meet our previously announced financial guidance for 2006 and 2007 and 2008," Shedlarz said during a presentation at a Bear Stearns health-care conference that was broadcast over the Internet.

In July, Pfizer raised its 2006 earnings forecast to $2 a share from a previous forecast of $1.93 a share, excluding the impact of its consumer health-care business, which it agreed to sell to Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

At the time, Pfizer also forecast average adjusted earnings growth "in the high single digits" for 2007 and 2008.

Shedlarz said new Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler, who replaced Henry McKinnell, has moved quickly to streamline the company's management structure.

"Pfizer is creating a flatter organization to accelerate decision-making," he said.

Pointing out that the company has made nine major deals in the past year, Shedlarz said Pfizer will accelerate its pace of acquisitions under Kindler "and seize new opportunities on the outside."

Meanwhile, Shedlarz held out the possibility that Pfizer won't meet its 2006 revenue target for its top drug, Lipitor, but he said it won't miss by much. Pfizer has been targeting more than $13 billion for Lipitor, the cholesterol medication that brought in $12.2 billion in 2005.

"We put a tough target out there for this year," he said. "It's going to be tough to meet that target, (but) we never give up on it. But I think increasingly it should be clear, we're not going to miss it by a mile."

Shares of Pfizer, the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world by sales, were up 16 cents recently, or 0.6%, at $28.04.



Business Intelligence

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