Over the past year, Pfizer (PFE +1.25%) made a series of acquisitions, even announcing at one point that it planned to remain "very active in deal-making." The drugmaker just fulfilled that promise in a big way.
On March 13, Pfizer announced the planned blockbuster acquisition of cancer specialist Seagen (SGEN +0.00%) for a massive $43 billion in cash. This move, expected to close by year-end or early 2024, will likely improve Pfizer's prospects, and it is only the latest in a series of important and successful strategic decisions the company's management has made.
Let's review some of these moves, including this latest one, to see how the drugmaker improved its prospects.
A spin-off that accelerated revenue growth
Pfizer used to have a generic drug unit called Upjohn, which it chose to spin off in 2020. Upjohn combined with the company then known as Mylan, a leader in the generic drug market, and the new entity came to be known as Viatris. Why was this a good move for Pfizer? Although Upjohn added diversity to the company's business, it had become a drag on its top- and bottom-line growth.
Many of the products it offered had been losing sales for some time. The added diversity was no longer worth the lower revenue from the unit and it's a fact that a larger business is harder to manage. Getting rid of this division allowed a smaller Pfizer to focus more on its better-performing biopharmaceutical unit, make faster decisions, and record stronger revenue growth.
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A home run in the coronavirus market
Pfizer also shrewdly chose to enter the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine in early 2020 by partnering up with BioNTech, which had already created a potential candidate. For a company the size of Pfizer, this was a low-risk, high-reward move. Thanks to it having considerably more cash than the smaller BioNTech and many other biotechs in the race, Pfizer could help significantly accelerate the development of its candidate.
And even if these efforts did not yield success, the investment would have been a relatively small one for the pharmaceutical giant. Fortunately, Pfizer's efforts were hugely successful. The company became a leader in the coronavirus vaccine market. It wasn't just a fluke, though. Pfizer proved as much by developing and marketing Paxlovid, a leading COVID-19 medicine. The drugmaker racked up impressive sales over the last two years thanks to its work in this area.
Pfizer's 2022 total revenue of $100.3 billion was a record for the pharmaceutical company, and it is what allowed it to go on an acquisition spree, including its latest deal with Seagen.
What's next for Pfizer?
Pfizer's acquisition will help it expand its oncology lineup. Seagen brings four cancer medicines that helped it generate about $2 billion in total revenue last year, an increase of 24.6% year over year. But Pfizer is just as interested in Seagen's pipeline. CEO Albert Bourla said the following about the acquisition: "We are not buying the golden eggs. We are acquiring the goose that is laying the golden eggs."
Pfizer estimates more than $10 billion in risk-adjusted revenue from Seagen by 2030, including $2 billion from the latter's current pipeline. The company expects significant growth thereafter. Earlier this year, Pfizer projected it would record between $70 billion and $84 billion in non-coronavirus revenue by 2030, compared to just $43.6 billion last year.
With the addition of Seagen, the drugmaker will rapidly grow its top line through the end of the decade. But with multiple catalysts on the way, there is even more for investors to look forward to with Pfizer. The drugmaker is gearing up to launch 19 new products in the next 18 months. The company typically launches one or two new products annually, so this is orders of magnitude higher than the norm.
There may be more acquisitions for Pfizer as it continues to use the capital it generated thanks to its coronavirus work. Most importantly, its management keeps making critical strategic decisions that improve the company's prospects. A corporation's leadership team is one of the most crucial factors for its long-term success.
That's why investors should expect more important moves from Pfizer in the future, and it's why the company's shares are a buy today.
