Pfizer’s Profit Drops 50% on Acquisitions

Pfizer Inc. said first-quarter profit dropped 50% to $2.33 billion on acquisition costs, while demand for cholesterol drug Lipitor helped boost sales 47%.

Sales of impotence treatment Viagra dropped for the first time in almost four years. Total sales rose to $12.5 billion from $8.51 billion.

Net income fell to 30 cents a share; a year earlier, earnings were $4.67 billion, or 76 cents, the New York-based company said.

Earnings per share, excluding acquisition and other costs, were 52 cents. Pfizer was expected to earn 51 cents, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. The company earned 41 cents a share a year earlier.

Shares of Pfizer fell 88 cents to $36.70 on the NYSE.