By Chelsey Dulaney and Jonathan D. Rockoff 

Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter thanks to last year's acquisition of Hospira Inc. and strong sales of new drugs, but the pharmaceutical giant offered soft guidance for 2016.

Pfizer, which struck a $155 billion deal in November to combine with Allergan PLC, played down concerns on Wall Street that the Obama administration might attempt to block the transaction, which would move Pfizer's headquarters from New York to Ireland in a bid to lower the company's taxes. It is a type of transaction federal officials have repeatedly criticized.

"Under the current law, I do not believe there is any reason this deal will not close," Pfizer CEO Ian Read said during a conference call. The deal remains on track to close during the second half of this year, he said, speaking about how the combination would increase sales at the company.

Mr. Read said 2015 marked the first time the company's revenues had grown "operationally" in five years, meaning excluding the effects of foreign exchange, after years of falling due to generic competition for such blockbuster products as cholesterol drug Lipitor and painkiller Celebrex.

Newly approved drugs like breast-cancer treatment Ibrance and blood thinner Eliquis, along with the expanded use of the Prevnar 13 pneumonia vaccine in adults, helped propel performance, Mr. Read said.

Yet he cautioned that Pfizer couldn't count on the Prevnar 13 sales bump from extra adult use this year, and predicted operational revenues would be flat in 2016.

Pfizer said it expects to earn $2.20 to $2.30 a share this year, excluding special items. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast $2.36 a share in earnings.

The company forecast $49 billion to $51 billion in revenue, while analysts were expecting $52.5 billion in revenue. Pfizer said it expects heightened competition from generic drugs to cut $2.3 billion from full-year revenue, while a stronger U.S. dollar is expected to shave another $2.3 billion from the top line.

The guidance excludes any impact from its inversion deal with Allergan, which would create the world's biggest drugmaker by sales.

Pfizer reported a profit of $613 million for the quarter, or 10 cents a share, down from $1.23 billion, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, including a $491 million pension settlement charge, adjusted earnings were 53 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share.

In the fourth quarter, Pfizer's revenues were $14 billion, up 7% due to sales from Prevnar in adults, Ibrance and Eliquis. But the stronger dollar hurt the fourth quarter's performance by $934 million.

The weakening of Venezuela's currency accounted for the bulk of Pfizer's foreign-exchange hit, some $878 million. Pfizer sells relatively large sums of rheumatoid-arthritis therapy Enbrel, Lipitor and blood-pressure remedy Norvasc in Venezuela, according to Chief Financial Officer Frank D'Amelio.

In September, Pfizer bought Hospira Inc. in a $16 billion deal that has made the company a leading player in the growing market for lower-priced versions of costly biotech drugs.

Sales slipped 2.2% in Pfizer's established-drugs business, but were up 5% excluding currency impacts, mostly due to the inclusion of Hospira's results. That offset the impact of losing exclusivity for Celebrex in the U.S. and Lyrica in certain developed European markets.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2016 15:10 ET (20:10 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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