If you've spent any time reading about certain stocks, you'll have noticed that opinions among Wall Street analysts can vary widely. Because there's no way to definitively determine where a stock will be in the future, it's hard to know for sure that it's a buy, sell, or hold. It's the same with The Motley Fool: One of its writers might be very bullish on one stock, while her colleague is bearish. That's why it's good to read multiple opinions and think them through on your own.
Here's one example: Pfizer (PFE 0.12%). The MarketWatch website recently tracked 28 ratings for the stock: Nine Wall Street analysts said "buy," one said the stock was overweight (which essentially means it's a buy), 15 said "hold," and three said "sell." The consensus, then, was to hold.
These ratings are occasionally changed or reaffirmed. Guggenheim Securities recently reaffirmed its buy rating for Pfizer, along with a price target of $36 per share. That's fully 38% higher than the recent share price of about $26.
Image source: Getty Images.
Ratings of buy, sell, or hold are not as valuable to know as the reasoning behind them. Fortunately, the ratings are often accompanied by research reports -- and many good brokerages offer their customers access to such reports for free.
Guggenheim says...
As with most pharmaceutical companies, much rides on Pfizer's development pipeline -- which recently featured 96 drugs in development, 31 of those in late-stage phase 3. The Guggenheim analyst, Vamil Divan, was optimistic because of encouraging results from some late-stage clinical trials of Pfizer drugs, and saw more upside than downside.
Divan cited upcoming data from the Mevpro-1 phase 3 trial of mevrometostat, which treats metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Results are expected in the second half of 2026. He expects about $2 per share upside if the trial succeeds, versus a downside of around $1 if it doesn't.
The company's first quarter, which it reported in early May, was promising; CFO David Denton noted that "I'm particularly pleased with the 22% year-over-year operational revenue growth from our launched and acquired products." CEO Albert Bourla wrote that "Our R&D [research and development] pipeline is advancing on multiple fronts -- with positive Phase 3 readouts and encouraging mid-stage results building meaningful momentum -- and I'm particularly encouraged by what we're seeing in oncology and obesity, two areas where I believe Pfizer is positioned to lead."
NYSE: PFE
Key Data Points
A promising pipeline is just what Pfizer needs to make up for some expiring patent protections in the coming years. It has been building its pipeline internally and via acquisition. Last year, for example, it bought Metsera, which has been developing GLP-1 drugs that could boost Pfizer's business in the weight-loss arena.
The company might not be firing on all cylinders at the moment, but it has multiple potential growth catalysts -- and its dividend, which recently yielded a fat 6.7%, will reward patient believers while they wait.
