Analysts say 'plenty to like' at Pfizer's Investor Day, Goldman upgrades to Buy

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By Senad Karaahmetovic 

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) held its Investor Day yesterday, where it said it expects annual revenue from its mRNA vaccine portfolio to reach $10-15 billion by 2030.

Last month, Pfizer raised its projection for 2022 sales of COVID-19 vaccines to $34B. Analysts were expecting this number to drop to $6.7B by 2027, however, yesterday's Pfizer update has somewhat alleviated investor fears.

In the aftermath of the Analyst Day, Goldman Sachs analysts upgraded Pfizer stock to Buy from Neutral with a $60 per share price target.

"We see outperformance potential in 2023 driven by increasing attention to the non-COVID-19 base business for which we see delivery of updates and performance from a growing list of underappreciated late stage pipeline and new commercial launch assets as providing significant optionality and an increasingly rich catalyst path," the analysts wrote in a note.

Other sell-side analysts also weighed in positively. Bank of America analysts saw "plenty" to like at the company's yesterday event. They believe Pfizer remains on track to add at least $45B in revenues by 2023.

"We think Pfizer's strategy to launch key assets in quick succession makes sense, but we think there is still work to do. And while we realize there are a lot of moving parts in the approach, and the portfolio will take time to gain topline momentum, we maintain a positive outlook," they said in a note.

Wells Fargo analysts see more value in the long-term pipeline than in near-term launches.

"Among the near-term drivers, we see upside potential to PFE's >$2B RSV forecast depending on vax durability, while $4B for elranatamab may be challenging given competition from CAR-T and other bispecifics in development for R/ R multiple myeloma," the analysts said.

Pfizer shares closed at $52.16 yesterday, or 0.85% higher on the day. Pfizer stock is up a further 2.5% in pre-open Tuesday.