Pfizer may be considering a series of spin-offs that would leave the company with a core group of four pharma businesses, according to Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson. In a research note, the analyst says that “it seems from our recent meeting with CEO Ian Read that Pfizer may be destined for a significant shake-up in the form of shrinking its behemoth … revenue base.” Anderson writes that sales base could shrink to as little as between $35 billion to $40 billion a year from about $67 billion. Here’s the Dow Jones Newswires story . Shares in Pfizer rose to a 52-week high of $20.26 earlier in the day. In midday trading shares were up 1.7% to $19.79. Pfizer spokeswoman Joan Campion reiterated the company’s intention to conduct a portfolio review of all its businesses this year, but wouldn’t comment to DJN on the specifics of Anderson’s predictions. The analyst said Pfizer may end up spinning off or selling its four non-pharma businesses (nutritionals, consumer health, animal health and its Capsugel unit) as well as its entire “established products” division of off-patent drugs, generics and biosimilars. That would leave

the company with four pharma units: primary care, specialty care, oncology and emerging markets, DJN says. Anderson writes that he’d prefer spin-offs, with Pfizer maintaining equity stakes in the units, to outright sales. He cites other pharma spin-offs that have performed well as measured by share price: Medco, spun off from Merck; Zimmer and Mead Johnson, from Bristol-Myers Squibb; Guidant, from Eli Lilly and Hospira, from Abbott. As for the timing of any big changes, Anderson writes that many important decisions are likely to be made this year but the details aren’t clear. More recently Pfizer has been bulking up rather than slimming down, buying Pharmacia, Warner-Lambert and Wyeth, which was a $68 billion purchase . New CEO Read has stated the company will cut back R&D spending and to instill a more entrepreneurial ethos among workers. “Make bets where you can win and stop spending where you think you can’t,” he said recently. Correction: This post originally said incorrectly that Pfizer’s revenue base could shrink to between $35 million and $40 million. Image: Associated Press

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Pfizer Shares Rise as Analyst Note Sparks Spin-Off Talk