Analyst Prescribes Neutral Rating For Pfizer Shares

Previewing second-quarter results of Pfizer Inc. PFE, Credit Suisse prescribed a Neutral rating for the shares of the company, down from its previous Outperform rating.

Pfizer is scheduled to release its second-quarter results at 7 a.m. ET on Aug. 1.

Analysts led by Vamil Divan expect Pfizer to report second-quarter sales of $13.1 billion and earnings per share of $0.69. The consensus estimates call for earnings of $0.66 per share on revenues of $13.1 billion.

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Credit Suisse attributed the downgrade to the company's challenging product story and limited near-term catalysts. The firm feels a downward rating move is warranted ahead of patent expirations of key products Viagra and Lyrica.

The firm also lowered its second quarter estimates for Xtandi but raised its estimates for Ibrance and Xeljanz.

Meanwhile, the firm said the focus of the conference call will be Pfizer's business development priorities as investors expect the company to add more growth drivers to the story.

Barclays has a $36 price target on the shares of Pfizer.

________ Image Credit: By Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons