Pfizer (PFE) COVID, Cancer Drugs Key to Top-Line Growth

We're in the thick of first-quarter earnings season, and on this week's busy lineup is blue-chip drugmaker Pfizer (PFE, $49.34).

PFE shows up early on this week's earnings calendar, with the Big Pharma firm scheduled to unveil its first-quarter results ahead of Tuesday's open. Analysts are anticipating earnings of $1.48 per share, up 59% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. Revenue is expected to arrive at $24.0 billion (+64.4% YoY).

Wall Street thinks Pfizer's COVID-19 regimens that include a vaccine co-developed with BioNTech (BNTX) and Paxlovid, its oral treatment granted regulatory approval last December, will contribute $12.5 billion to its top line, says Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal.

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While Bansal expects PFE to fall a little short of this estimate, he anticipates a solid beat in the company's non-COVID business, with cancer drugs Ibrance and Inlyta "tracking ahead of consensus." The analyst has an Overweight rating (equivalent of Buy) on the Dow Jones stock.

And Bansal is in good company. Of the 23 analysts following the stock that are tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, eight say it's a Strong Buy, one calls it a Buy and 14 have it at Hold.

Advanced Micro Devices Stock Cheap Ahead of Earnings

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, $87.93) has been hit hard with broad-market headwinds in 2022, down more than 38% for the year-to-date.

Can a solid earnings report give the semiconductor stock a jolt?

Raymond James analyst Chris Caso recently upgraded AMD to Strong Buy from Outperform. He believes Advanced Micro Devices is attractively valued, remaining well below its average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 40 over the last three and five years.

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Caso admits a potential PC market slowdown and the sustainability of revenue growth for recently acquired Xilinx are concerns. However, "We have strong confidence regarding AMD's position and share gains in the datacenter market," the analyst says, with "tight supply conditions encouraging customers to commit to AMD to ensure supply."

Analysts are optimistic heading into AMD's Q1 2022 report. Consensus estimates are for Advanced Micro Devices to report earnings of 91 cents per share (+75% YoY) and revenue of $5.5 billion (+60.3% YoY).

DraftKings Q1 Revenue to Show Strong Growth

DraftKings (DKNG, $14.20) stock is down nearly 50% for the year-to-date, but Wall Street's pros are more bullish than not toward the online sports betting company. Of the 28 analysts following DKNG that are tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 12 have it at Strong Buy, four call it a Buy and 12 believe it's a Hold.

Needham analyst Bernie McTernan is one of those with a Buy rating on DKNG, calling the company "a leader in the emerging North America online gambling market," with a $35 billion market opportunity.

Oppenheimer analyst Jed Kelly (Outperform) shares this sentiment, adding the company's "competencies in product development and customer acquisition" have helped it become a market leader. These will also play a key role in DKNG taking a roughly 25%-30% share of a quickly growing market as more states regulate online sports gambling (OSB).

In the near term, DraftKings "is acquiring players faster and more efficiently as OSB scales nationally (3.5% of Arizona adults in the first six months vs. New Jersey's 1.3%)," Kelly says.

As for DKNG's first-quarter earnings report – due out ahead of the May 6 open – analysts, on average, are looking for $414.4 million in revenue (+32.7% YoY) and a loss of $1.16 per share, wider than the 87 cents-per-share loss the company incurred in the year-ago period.