Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTProsper Junior Bakiny, The Motley FoolFri, July 31, 2026 at 9:29 PM GMT+2 5 min readAt first glance, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) looks like a great stock to buy. The company has a reliable dividend program and regularly raises its payouts, boasting a 6.8% forward yield, well above the S&P 500's average of 1.1%. Further, Pfizer trades at 8.5x forward earnings versus 18.8x for healthcare stocks. To top it all off, Pfizer's late-stage pipeline features MET-097i, a promising candidate in the fast-growing anti-obesity area. With all that going on, one might think that Pfizer is a no-brainer, but many investors disagree. The stock has moved sideways since the beginning of the year. What's going on?Image source: The Motley Fool.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »Diagnosing Pfizer's problemsOne of the reasons Pfizer is lagging the market is that its financial results haven't been great in recent years. Over the past three years, the company's top-line growth average has been negative.PFE Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YChartsPfizer's valuation makes more sense in light of this fact. A low forward price-to-earnings ratio doesn't necessarily mean that a stock is a bargain, especially if revenue and earnings aren't growing fast -- or at all. Further, Pfizer isn't out of the woods just yet. By the end of the decade, the company will lose patent exclusivity for several products, including Eliquis, an anticoagulant.In the first quarter, Eliquis' revenue came in at $2.2 billion, up 13% compared to the year-ago period. It was Pfizer's single best-selling product and accounted for about 15% of its total revenue. This will be a monumental patent cliff for Pfizer. Meanwhile, the company's coronavirus portfolio isn't performing well due to lower vaccine demand and regulatory restrictions in the U.S. And while Pfizer has sought to turn things around with new launches, some of them haven't performed well and are unlikely to ever make a big enough impact on its financial results to fill the gap products like Eliquis will leave behind. That's why many investors remain skeptical about the company's future.Why the stock might still reboundThe market is factoring in the possibility that Pfizer's leading pipeline candidates will fail in late-stage clinical trials. On the flip side, if they succeed, the stock will jump. By the time Pfizer launches brand-new products that are capable of replacing older medicines like Eliquis, the share price will likely already be much higher than it is now. And even though the risk of clinical failures is real, my view is that Pfizer's deep pipeline, particularly in weight management and oncology, gives the company enough room for error to overcome potential setbacks and still secure important regulatory approvals for drugs destined to be blockbusters.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info