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NEW YORK (AP) — Pfizer's second-quarter earnings fell 10 percent, as the largest U.S. drugmaker absorbed revenue hits from a stronger U.S. dollar and the loss of patent protection for some key products. But the maker of Viagra and the painkiller Celebrex topped expectations for the quarter and raised its 2015 forecast.
Shares of the New York company climbed Tuesday before the market opened.
Pfizer also raised its earnings forecast. The company now expects 2015 adjusted earnings of $2.01 to $2.07 per share, up from its previous forecast for $1.95 to $2.05 per share.
Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of $2.06 per share, according to FactSet.
In the second quarter, Pfizer Inc.'s earnings fell to $2.63 billion from $2.91 billion. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, totaled 56 cents per share in the most recent quarter.
The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 51 cents per share.
Revenue fell 7 percent to $11.85 billion, but that still topped average expectations for $11.41 billion.
Pfizer said revenue grew 1 percent in the quarter, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates. Worldwide revenue from Celebrex sank 71 percent to $224 million, as generic competition in the U.S. market ate away at sales. Competition from cheaper, generic alternatives also hit the antibiotic Zyvox, which saw sales drop 26 percent to $259 million.
Sales of the world's top-selling vaccine, Prevnar 13, grew 37 percent to $1.5 billion to help balance those hits.
Pfizer shares climbed 46 cents to $34.80 in premarket trading.
Shares of the drugmaker, a company used in calculating in the Dow Jones industrial average, have climbed 10 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has risen 14 percent in the last 12 months.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on PFE at http://www.zacks.com/ap/PFE
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Keywords: Pfizer, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings
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