Pfizer Stock Under Pressure as Downgrades Mount Despite Solid Q4

A fresh round of skepticism hit on Thursday when Daiwa Securities trimmed its view, moving the stock from Outperform to Neutral and setting a new price target of $27.00. The shares closed the session at $27.47, underscoring a limited upside from here. The downgrade is part of a broader cautious tone in the research community this week: Freedom Capital Markets lowered its target to $33.00, and Bernstein kept a Market Perform rating with a $30.00 objective. Taken together, the Street’s mood suggests that while cash flows remain solid, concerns about Pfizer’s long-term growth trajectory after the pandemic peak are taking center stage.

Institutional investors are signaling caution as well. Recent mandatory filings show the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its Pfizer stake by about 18.8% in the third quarter, a move that often draws close scrutiny from retail traders who monitor professional risk appetite shifts.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Pfizer?

Still, Pfizer’s operational backdrop remains resilient. In early February, the company reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $17.56 billion, with earnings per share of $0.66, topping consensus estimates that hovered around $0.57 to $0.58.

Management efforts to bolster external innovation are already in play. On Friday, Pfizer announced the winners of its INDovation Program for 2025, backing 14 healthcare startups in India. The focus is squarely on advancing oncology and immunology initiatives to shore up the company’s external development pipeline.

Investors largely discount the latest profit surprises and look ahead to how Pfizer executes its product pipeline and mitigates patent expirations. As long as no fresh growth catalysts appear, solid quarterly results alone may not be enough to sway the analysts back toward a more bullish stance.