Bear Stearns downgraded Pfizer (PFE) to "peer perform". The bank seems to think that Lipitor will be eaten alive by generics and that Pfizer’s main weapon against this is cost cuts.

The move may be premature. Pfizer has committed to putting four new drugs into the field each year between now and 2011.

Pfizer’s cost cuts paired with even modest success with new products could get the company’s earnings moving again. And, the Bear could be wrong.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.