Pfizer Inc. posted sharply higher fourth-quarter net income as tight spending controls and a huge gain from selling its nutrition business helped offset sharply lower sales of cholesterol fighter Lipitor.
Pfizer reported net income of $6.3 billion, or 85 cents a share.
Revenue fell 7 percent to $15 billion, hurt by generic rivals to Lipitor and other prescription drugs.
Excluding the windfall from selling its nutrition business to Nestle SA for $11.5 billion on Nov. 30, and a total of $888 million for restructuring, legal and other one-time items, the Viagra maker would have had a profit of $3.51 billion, or 47 cents per share.
That’s 3 cents more than analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.
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