How High Will Pfizer Stock Go?

How High Will Pfizer Stock Go? With over half of all Americans now resting a bit more comfortably with at least one COVID-19 vaccine completed, it’s starting to become clear to see that — while the pandemic still rages on around the world and global cases are reaching new highs every day — the United States is one of several countries who have seen the worst of the virus and are on the road to recovering from it.

One reason why the country has seen something of a turnaround compared to this time last year is because of Pfizer (PFE), a publicly traded company that continues to impress on the New York Stock Exchange. How long is it going to continue to impress?

Pfizer Has Been Around For Almost 200 Years

Even before the onset of COVID-19 and the development of the coronavirus vaccine, Pfizer was already an instantly recognizable name in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Founded almost 175 years ago in 1849, Pfizer has long been known for developing medicines and vaccines that have shaped the medical world as we know it.

From cardiology to neurology to endocrinology and all sorts of other areas in between, Pfizer currently boasts over $175 billion in assets and over $65 billion in total equity. While their vaccine efforts have primarily been focused on the United States thus far, Pfizer is a global industry that has made immense profits in China, Japan, and all over the rest of the world.

Beyond their work in developing and manufacturing biopharmaceutical products, Pfizer also does plenty of work with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a nonprofit organization of over 400 companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) united in their fight for a higher international affairs budget in America.

As it stands, they are one of the largest lobbyists in the United States, typically spending over ten million dollars on lobbying congressional lawmakers each year.

Are Pfizer Revenues Rising?

Given the fact that Pfizer has been around since the mid-1800s, it goes without saying that the company surely isn’t struggling with their finances in any way.

To last this long and to survive through so many tumultuous economic hardships as the rest of America, Pfizer has shown the amount of revenue needed to last through storm after storm and drought after drought. Just how much revenue does it rake in, though?

With their Q4 earnings for 2020 now released to the public, everyone’s suspicions are decidedly confirmed: Not only did Pfizer revenues rise significantly because of their work on the COVID-19 vaccine, they expect their record sales to continue through 2021.

In 2019, before the onset of the novel coronavirus, Pfizer reported a net income of $52 billion — a massive number, undoubtedly, but nowhere near their highest revenues (or even their previous year’s income of almost $54 billion). In 2020, the company made $42 billion — about $15 billion of which coming from vaccine sales alone.

While this number is down from the previous year by almost $10 billion, it’s still a massive and remarkable number regardless — even if it does show that revenues are falling, not rising.

Will Pfizer Earnings Go Up?

Pfizer expects current trends to shift in 2021 and predicts that, by the end of Q4 of this year, they will increase their earnings. One-fourth of this is predicted to be from vaccine sales alone.

It’s impossible to overstate the sheer positive impact their vaccine has (and will continue to have) on our world, but it’s just as impossible to overstate the enormous amount of earnings Pfizer is poised to walk away with when this is all said and done. If management forecasts are correct, Pfizer would end 2021 with their highest revenue since 2011.

Is Pfizer Stock Undervalued?

In spite of the enormous strides Pfizer has made to put a stop to COVID-19 and the record-high revenue they expect by the end of 2021, Pfizer stock is currently only priced relatively modestly.

It’s not even their peak, which was around $45 in late 1999 and early 2000. Needless to say, this means that Pfizer stock is hugely undervalued — especially if they share their vaccines with the rest of the world and not just America.

With the recent announcement that the company is working on a coronavirus treatment in addition to more vaccines, it’s plain to see that Pfizer stock will continue to go up significantly from this paltry, undervalued number they’re sitting at now.

Risks To Buying Pfizer Stock

Of course, as with anything publicly traded on the stock market, there are some notable risks to buying Pfizer stock.

For one, the company does not make other medicines and vaccines beyond their COVID-19 vaccine, and there’s always a chance that one of these medicines or vaccines could face serious problems of their own — for instance, their arthritis drug Xeljanz recently paled compared to similar arthritis treatments.

There’s nothing stopping one of their other pharmaceuticals from hindering the otherwise successful run of COVID-19 vaccines for the company.

Additionally, there is that troubling trend when looking at revenues of years past: Pfizer earnings were on a steady decline even before the coronavirus, and they could continue to fall despite predictions.

Not to mention, there’s also the possibility that another COVID-19 vaccine could end up surpassing Pfizer’s — just look at what happened to the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) vaccine and what happened when blood clotting trends were discovered.

Is Pfizer Stock Price Forecast To Rise?

With Pfizer’s projected increase in earnings over the course of 2021 and their very obvious undervaluation, it’s not totally out of the question for Pfizer stock to rise in the coming months. Just how drastic that rise will be remains to be seen, but a rise is practically a given at this point.

That could mean a slow, steady, gradual rise, or a significant skyrocket that sends the stock to substantial highs — it all depends on how the vaccine rollout continues to pan out in the United States and especially abroad, where demand is profoundly higher than it is in America.

Time will tell the true measure of this rise, but at the end of the day, a rise is a rise.

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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.