What Elese Is Wrong With Pfizer

Pfizer (PFE) had its CEO interviwed by Mike Huckman on CNBC today.  Mike Huckman even asked him how a "guy that used to sell chicken for Boston Market that is fairly new to the drug industry was able to learn the industry," which sort of changed the tone of the interview.

Huckman also asked what compelling reasons PFE investors have to buy the stock today, and a brief synopsis of the response was as follows:

-financially strong and profitable,
-have resources to pursue plans,
-new management team,
-delivering on transformation,
-keen focus on strategic business development.

MarketWatch has also noted that a "NIH scientist charged with Pfizer conflict of interest"

As noted, there were many downgrades.  There are also a few more additions to the notes:

cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch,
cut to Neutral at JPMorgan, 
cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
cut to Underweight at Lehman.

Bloomberg noted that Moody’s is reviewing the "Aaa" rating as well.

In options, it has traded more than 53,000 contracts of the DEC $25 CALLS, more than 26,000 of the DEC $22.50 PUTS, more than 32,000 of the DEC $25 PUTS, more than 50,000 of the JAN $25 CALLS, traded more than 32,000 of the JAN $22.50 PUTS and more than 23,000 of the JAN $25 PUTS.

As of 2:30 PM EST PFE shares wwere $24.59, and had traded almost 241 million shares.  The daily trading range is $23.50 and the actual highs on the day are hard to caculate to the penny because of old price prints from Friday and pre-market.  Its 52-week trading range is $20.27 to $28.60.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2006