On Wednesday, Pfizer has released its second quarter results and said that its Covid shots brought in $7.8 billion. It has also raised its sales forecast for the vaccines from $26 billion to $33.5 billion in 2021. It has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations on both earnings and revenue. The company said that it estimates its adjusted pretax profit for the vaccine to be 20 percent. The company’s shares increased by 2.5 percent, intraday trading.

According to average expectations by analysts and compiled by Refintiv:

• The adjusted earnings per share were $1.07 while the projected earnings were 97 cents.
• The revenue stood at $18.98 billion while the estimated revenue was 18.74.

Pfizer has also changed its estimates of its full year earnings. It is now looking at earnings of $3.95 to $4.05 per share from its earlier forecast of $3.55 to $3.65 per share. It has also raised its revenue estimates from $78 billion to $80 billion from previous forecasts of $70.5 billion to $72.5 billion.

Other units of Pfizer also saw a rise in sales. The oncology unit revenue increased by 19 percent year over year and stood at $3.1 billion. Its hospital unit soared 21 percent when compared with last year and brought in a revenue of $2.2 billion, while its internal medicine unit grew by a modest 5 percent from last year and generated $2.4 billion.

As the delta variant spreads across the nation, Pfizer has been peddling its booster shot to the government, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not taken a decision on such shots though it may consider it for vulnerable people.

In his post-earnings conference call on Wednesday, Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla said that some people might need a third shot “earlier” than a year to maintain the highest possible protection against the virus. The company is looking emergency use authorization for its booster shot from the Food and Drug Administration as early as August. By early next year Pfizer is also expecting to get full approval for its two dose COVID-19 vaccine manufactured in collaboration with BioNTech, in Germany.

Image Marco Verch Professional  

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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) announced the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

• Revenue was $41.7 billion and increased 19%
• Operating income was $17.0 billion and increased 31%
• Net income was $15.5 billion GAAP and $14.8 billion non-GAAP, and increased 44% and 38%,  respectively
• Diluted earnings per share was $2.03 GAAP and $1.95 non-GAAP, and increased 45% and 39%,respectively
• GAAP results include a $620 million  net income tax benefit explained in the Non-GAAP Definition section below

“Over a year into the pandemic, digital adoption curves aren’t slowing down. They’re accelerating, and it’s just the beginning,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We are building the cloud for the next decade, expanding our addressable market and innovating across every layer of the tech stack to help our customers be resilient and transform.”

“The Microsoft Cloud, with its end-to-end solutions, continues to provide compelling value to our customers generating $17.7 billion in commercial cloud revenue, up 33% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Business Highlights

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes  was $13.6 billion and increased 15%  (up  12% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 14% (up 10% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 22% (up 19% in constant currency)
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 5% (up 2% in constant currency) and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 50.2 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 25% (up 23% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 26% (up 22% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 45% (up 40% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $15.1 billion and increased 23% (up 20% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 26% (up 23% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 50% (up 46% in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $13.0 billion and increased 19% (up 16% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue increased 10%
• Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 10% (up 7% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 34% (up 32% in constant currency)
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 17% (up 14% in constant currency)
• Surface revenue increased 12% (up 7% in constant currency)

Microsoft returned $10.0 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021,  an increase of 1% compared to the third quarter of fiscal year 2020.

Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.

Here are the  major product releases and other highlights  for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

CWEB Analyst’s have initiated a Buy Rating for Microsoft (MSFT)    and potential upside of $1000 by 2021. The Microsoft revenue package includes Windows, Surface, Xbox, and search, and it has contributed $13 billion to Microsoft’s overall $41.7 billion this quarter.  

Microsoft Image Credit Royalty-free  stock photo  ID: 416365273

Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International, Jacek Olczak said that the company would stop making its popular cigarettes in the next decade. The CEO told the Daily Mail on Sunday that they were looking at less harmful “modern alternatives.” The Marlboro brand has been an iconic one for over   a hundred years in Britain.

The company said that those   who wish to continue smoking might have to switch to alternatives including e-cigarettes or heated tobacco devices. These are said to be less harmful when compared with cigarettes.

Olczak mentioned that the traditional Marlboro brand would not appear on shelves of stores as it would totally disappear from the market. He added that the first choice of its customers was to stop smoking while the second one was to switch to safer alternatives.

Although the tobacco giant is quitting its traditional tobacco market, it is investing in and expanding its tobacco heating systems such as e-cigarettes. The company website said that its “smoke-free products” were not “risk free.” However, they were better than traditional cigarettes.

Health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said that it was difficult to take such reports seriously from a company that made cigarettes. Ash’s chief executive Deborah Arnott told the BBC that although Philip Morris had been claiming that it wanted to see the end of smoking it was difficult to take such claims seriously as they globally sell “more than one in 10 cigarettes.”

Philip Morris recently said it was planning to buy Vectura Group. This British pharmaceutical group makes inhalers. This announcement was greeted with cynicism, skepticism, and criticism. Many pointed out the irony of a tobacco company that continued to make profits from cigarettes was positioning itself as anti-smoking.

The British Government has already set out a plan for the country to go “smoke free” by 2030. It will consider itself smoke free when the smoking rates fall below 5 percent across the country. Currently about 14 percent of the British population smokes. The Scottish government has set a smoke free goal in 2034, while Wales and Northern Ireland have not as yet set dates. The government plans to reduce cigarette smoking among all age groups.