Earnings Rise for Pfizer but Decline for Eli Lilly

Pfizer Inc.’s earnings soared in the first quarter because of solid pharmaceutical revenue and gains on businesses sold last year. But analysts expressed concern Tuesday that revenue from Pfizer’s star drugs didn’t grow as much as in previous quarters -- and in some cases declined in the U.S., the world’s biggest pharmaceutical market.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly & Co. said one-time charges led to a 35% decline in its first-quarter earnings. Its results, excluding one-time items, beat analysts’ expectations, however.

Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, said first-quarter earnings more than doubled to $4.67 billion, or 76 cents a share, from $1.96 billion, or 31 cents, a year earlier.

The results include a gain of $2.2 billion, or 36 cents a share, from the sale of the Adams Confectionery and Schick-Wilkinson Sword businesses as well as two product lines.

Excluding one-time gains, Pfizer reported earnings of 45 cents a share, beating by a penny the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Revenue grew 10% to $8.53 billion as many of Pfizer’s top-selling drugs continued to perform well. Sales of cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor rose 13% to $2.1 billion while revenue of anti-impotence pill Viagra grew 13% to $475 million.

However, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Richard Evans noted that in the United States, Lipitor sales advanced only 6% while revenue from antihypertension treatment Norvasc and antidepressant Zoloft declined.

“There was weakening demand in the quarter,” Evans said.

In New York Stock Exchange trading, Pfizer shares rose 22 cents to $31.82.

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly reported net income of $407 million, or 38 cents a share, down from $629 million, or 58 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Lilly earned 61 cents a share, beating expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call by 3 cents a share.

Lilly reported quarterly sales rose 13% to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion, with double-digit growth for the company’s top five drugs. The growth also was bolstered by initial sales of three recently introduced products.

Results reflected $354 million in one-time charges. The largest was a $187-million charge from disappointing results in a partnership with San Diego-based Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. to develop treatments using antisense inhibitors to target cancer cell growth at the genetic level.

Lilly shares rose $1.82 to $61.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.