Pfizer can grow without AstraZenica

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC. $30 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.4 billion; Market cap: $192.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is the world’s largest maker of prescription drugs. Its main brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis), Viagra (erectile dysfunction) and Prevnar (a pneumonia vaccine). Pfizer also makes popular over the-counter drugs, including Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup). These acquisitions tend to cut risk Developing new drugs is expensive and risky. That’s why big companies like Pfizer often prefer to buy other drug developers with promising products. In October 2009, Pfizer bought rival drug maker Wyeth for $68.2 billion in cash and stock. That raised its revenue from $50.0 billion in 2009 to $67.8 billion in 2010. However, revenue fell to $67.4 billion in 2011 after the patent on Pfizer’s Lipitor cholesterol drug expired. It later sold some smaller operations, which cut its revenue to $51.6 billion in 2013. Earnings…