Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, December 17, 2021

Article Excerpt

PFIZER INC., $59.47, New York symbol PFE, is a buy. The company is one of the world’s largest makers of prescription drugs. Its top-selling brands include Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis pain), Prevnar (pneumonia) and Enbrel (rheumatoid arthritis). Pfizer has agreed to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq symbol ARNA). That firm is developing new treatments for inflammatory bowel diseases. Arena’s main drug, a colitis pill called etrasimod, is now in late-stage studies. The acquisition will deepen Pfizer’s development pipeline, particularly as many of its current products will lose their patent protection starting in 2026. The company will pay $6.7 billion for Arena. Pfizer can easily afford this purchase: it held cash of $29.7 billion as of October 3, 2021. It expects to complete the transaction in the first half of 2022. Meantime, the company’s new COVID-19 pill, called Paxlovid, should receive emergency use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the next few weeks. Total sales of the drug could total $67 billion over…