Pfizer Forecasts in Line 2025 Profit as It Seeks Turnaround

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pfizer on Tuesday forecast 2025 profits roughly in line with Wall Street expectations, offering some relief to investors after a tumultuous year during which it attracted criticism from activist hedge fund Starboard Value.

Shares of Pfizer rose about 3% in premarket trading after the drugmaker also said it was expecting 2025 sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and drug to be consistent with 2024 levels.

The company expects adjusted profit of $2.80 to $3 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.88 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Pfizer has been reining in costs and shedding non-core businesses to pay down debt as it rebuilds itself after a sharp slump in sales of COVID-19 products.

Its shares have fallen nearly 12% this year and trade at less than half their value during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That has left it open to investor criticism, with Starboard in October saying that Pfizer's management has over-spent on big acquisitions and failed to produce profitable new drugs from those deals or from its internal research and development.

"While we see several assets in Pfizer's pipeline (particularly in oncology) that could make the story more interesting, we believe that further advancement ... will be necessary to change the current narrative on shares which would primarily occur 2026+," JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott wrote in a research note.

Pfizer forecast 2025 revenue in the range of $61 billion to $64 billion, compared with the estimates of $63.26 billion.

The company also estimated a roughly $1 billion hit to its revenue from changes to Medicare's Part D prescription program under President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

Pfizer said the addition of new manufacturer discounts and other changes would more than offset expected benefits from the $2,000 out-of-pocket spending cap that will be introduced for seniors who have the prescription drug plan next year.

The company is slated to hold a conference call with analysts later in the day to discuss the forecast.