The stock market looked ready to keep climbing early Wednesday, even as investors were largely in wait-and-see mode during the last day of the Federal Reserve's current monetary policy meeting. Market participants want to know if the Fed is done with interest rate increases and how tightly it expects to hold rates at relatively high levels into 2024. Increasingly, investors have been optimistic that the worst is over on the inflation front, and that has helped launch major market benchmarks higher.
However, a couple of high-profile stocks in their respective industries posted significant losses to start the day. Drug giant Pfizer (PFE +0.30%) dropped as it announced its latest expectations for the full year. Meanwhile, Linde (LIN +0.32%) gave back most of its gains from earlier in the week. Here are the details on both moves and what's behind them.
Pfizer sees COVID-19-related product sales dropping again
Shares of Pfizer were down more than 7% early Wednesday morning. The pharmaceutical leader provided full-year guidance for 2024 that included some disappointing news, particularly in the wake of its recent acquisition of biotech company Seagen.
Pfizer previously said that it expects revenue for 2023 to come in between $58 billion and $61 billion, with adjusted earnings of $1.45 to $1.65 per share. In its new 2024 guidance, Pfizer expects its legacy pharmaceutical business to produce $54.5 billion to $57.5 billion in sales for the year. That should result in adjusted earnings attributable to pre-Seagen Pfizer of between $2.45 and $2.65 per share. Including Seagen and some reclassification of royalty income, total 2024 revenue should be between $58.5 billion and $61.5 billion, but the Seagen deal will cost the combined company about $0.40 per share in adjusted earnings due to financing costs.
NYSE: PFE
Key Data Points
Of that amount, about $8 billion will come from the Paxlovid treatment and Comirnaty vaccine for COVID-19. That's down from 2023's expected $12.5 billion, but the remainder of Pfizer's and Seagen's products should produce operational revenue growth in a range of 8% to 10%.
2023 has already been a massive adjustment year for Pfizer, as Comirnaty vaccine revenue plunged 70% from 2022 levels and Paxlovid suffered a 95% drop in sales. 2024's decline is more incremental in nature, but it was still enough to cause declines not just for Pfizer, but for vaccine stocks across the industry.
Linde sinks back down
Elsewhere, shares of industrial gas company Linde were down about 5% Wednesday morning. That wiped out most of the stock's gains from Tuesday, although the shares remain sharply higher for the year after having jumped to all-time highs earlier in the week.
Linde started out the week on the right foot as analysts at Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on the industrial gas stock. In the eyes of the Wall Street giant, Linde is set to benefit from the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, as it should lead more players in the renewable energy field to look for new innovations to reduce carbon emissions. That prompted a $30 increase to Morgan Stanley's expectations for the stock, pushing the target up to $450 per share.
NASDAQ: LIN
Key Data Points
Linde's most recent move lower appears to be just a reaction to the stock's having hit record levels. Fundamentally, Linde remains on the upswing, with the company having most recently reported an increase in its liquid hydrogen production capacity at a plant in Alabama. Serving customers from manufacturing and electronics makers to space launch and mobility businesses, Linde has built up a diversified client base with high demand for its gases.
Even the best-performing stocks give back ground from time to time. For Linde, many see consistent growth extending well into the future.
