Regis Rages Against Pfizer
OK. I have to put aside the fact that he went to Notre Dame and is a diehard Fighting Irish fan (Go 'SC!), but Regis' trademark rant against Pfizer on "Fast Money" yesterday is too good not to blog it.
Reege said what a lot of investors are probably thinking.
"I'm so sick and tired of hearing what a great pharmaceutical (company) it is. When is the stock going to move?" he shouted, pounding the table for emphasis.
In PFE's defense, the stock is up about four bucks since March. But it's worth about a third of what it was valued at around the start of this decade. (Pfe 10-year )
To try to increase shareholder value, Pfizer's buying Wyeth . But yesterday WYE suffered a bit of a setback with the FDA delaying a decision on whether to approve a new-and-improved version of a blockbuster vaccine. When PFE announced the WYE deal earlier this year it cut its attractive dividend in half. But in a research note to clients today, Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan predicts the company may raise the dividend by 15-25 percent in December. "The return of cash to shareholders through dividends will continue to be important, and probably generous, but it is unlikely to be sustained at the historic ratios of the past, and is already moving down," Ryan says. (Note: DB owns at least one percent of PFE shares, makes a market in the stock and has done and wants to do more investment banking for the firm.)
On "Fast Money" Philbin said he essentially couldn't care less about the PFE dividend. Easy for him to say, I guess, since he doesn't need a dividend check to help make ends meet.
My advice?
Regis, if you're looking for a better return take the Trojans against the Irish.
Fight On!
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