Pfizer sticks to the script in first-quarter update as cost cuts are ‘largely complete’

The Covid-era swag­ger is gone. The cost cuts are most­ly done. The ex­ec­u­tives are “cau­tious­ly op­ti­mistic.” And the stock is up.

On Wednes­day, Pfiz­er stayed away from some of its bold­er promis­es of re­cent years and em­pha­sized the work it’s do­ing to re­bound from a dis­mal 2023. No mo­ment ex­em­pli­fied Pfiz­er’s cau­tious op­ti­mism — a phrase ex­plic­it­ly used by CEO Al­bert Bourla and oth­er ex­ecs 11 times in the 90-minute call — more than CFO Dave Den­ton rul­ing out al­most all bolt-on M&A for the near fu­ture.

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