Background
Pfizer (PFE) delivered an in-line Q2, with consensus Street forward estimates for this year and next changing little. Rather than get into the details of a boring, "OK" quarter, I'd rather review some of PFE's prior and recent issues and then list some of the reasons that PFE might be a better investment going forward, perhaps soon, than it has been since 2000. My sense is that PFE is trading in a desultory fashion, just like a utility. But it's not a utility, which is a local monopoly. PFE could ultimately sink, or swim faster. Investors want "tech," and in drugs, they want biotech.
Since one rule of investing is not to short a quiet market, PFE begins to get more interesting to me as a stock that does not seem to be getting a lot of attention from traders. Could it be getting a little washed out as a chronic underperformer?
Before exploring some reasons to think of upside in PFE, some negative comments, beginning with a brief overview:
