By Akankshita Mukhopadhyay
(Reuters) - Leading U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc racked up its biggest miss on sales in a year in the first quarter, hurt by lower-than-expected sales of blockbuster breast cancer drug Ibrance and arthritis drug Xeljanz.
Pfizer shares, which have struggled to benefit from the surge in stock market prices since Donald Trump's election in 2016, dipped just over 1 percent in response to the results.
The company said that Ibrance had raked in sales of $933 million in the first quarter, up 37.4 percent from a year earlier but missing analysts' estimates of $956.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
That likely reflects strong competition from Novartis' Kisqali and Lilly's recently approved Verzenio.
Xeljanz, which is approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, posted sales of $326 million, well below $398.5 million expected by analysts.
Pfizer, which is exploring options for a consumer healthcare business that some estimates value at $20 billion, said it expected to make a decision in 2018 on any sale of a business which includes Centrum vitamins and Advil painkillers.
Quarterly profit topped Wall Street estimates on stronger-than-expected sales of pneumonia vaccine Prevnar and the company also reaffirmed its 2018 forecast.
Net profit rose to $3.56 billion, or 59 cents per share, in the latest quarter ended April 1 from $3.12 billion, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 77 cents per share, topping estimates of 74 cents.
Total revenue rose 1 percent to $12.91 billion, while analysts were expecting $13.13 billion.
The company holds a conference call with analysts at 10 a.m. eastern time to discuss the results.
(Reporting by Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar and Anil D'Silva)
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