Vaccine could be ready in October

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC. $36 is a buy. The prescription drugmaker (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.6 billion; Market cap: $201.6 billion; Dividend yield: 4.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.pfizer.com) last raised its quarterly dividend in March 2020. Investors now receive $0.38 a share, up 5.6% from $0.36. The new annual rate of $1.52 yields a high 4.2%. Pfizer has teamed up with German drugmaker BioNTech (Nasdaq symbol BNTX) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The partners are now conducting Phase III trials and should know by the end of October if the vaccine is safe and effective. If it is, they plan to supply up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020, and a further 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. Pfizer is a buy. buy…