Pfizer beats forecasts, as 2nd-qtr earnings rocket on asset sale

Second-quarter 2013 net income at US pharma behemoth Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) leapt more than four-fold, helped by the sale of its remaining 80% holding animal health business Zoetis, although sales for the quarter were down.

Net earnings came in at $14.1 billion, or $1.98 per share, compared with $3.25 billion, or $0.43 per share, a year earlier. Excluding a gain related to the June sale and other one-time items, earnings were $0.56 per share, just beating the $0.55 per share forecasts of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Pfizer’s shares barely moved in pre-market trading, edging just 0.4% higher to $29.65.

However, Pfizer posted a 7% decline to $12.97 billion in revenues for the quarter, largely a result of generic completion – notably the firm’s all-time blockbuster cholesterol lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin), and falling short of analysts’ expectations of $13.01 billion.