Zoetis (ZTS) Reports Q4 Results Above Expectations

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) was the animal health unit of Pfizer before becoming a standalone company in 2013 as a result of the spin-off. It started trading on NYSE in February 2013 after raising $2.2 billion in its IPO. It has performed exceptionally well since then, becoming a dominant player in the global animal health industry, with the current market value hovering around $78.7 billion. Today, Zoetis’ product lineup includes a range of animal health drugs and vaccines.

The New Jersey-based company on Tuesday announced its financial results for the fourth quarter. It reported earnings of $359 million, or $0.75 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, down from $0.80 per share in the comparable period of 2019. On an adjusted basis, earnings slipped 1 percent on a year-over-year basis to $0.91 per share, beating the consensus forecast of $0.87 per share.

Revenue came in at $1.8 billion, up 8 percent from the same period of 2019. Analysts on average were expecting Zoetis to post revenue of $1.73 billion. Looking forward, Zoetis expects to report an adjusted profit in the range of $4.36 per share to $4.46 per share and revenue between $7.400 billion and $7.550 billion for 2021.

CEO Kristin Peck expressed optimism over Zoetis growth prospects in the current fiscal year. Peck said in a statement, “We expect to continue growing revenue faster than the market in 2021 driven by continued strength in petcare; ongoing expansion in markets outside the U.S., most notably China; and acceleration of our diagnostics portfolio penetration. As a result, we are guiding to full-year operational growth of 9% to 11% in revenue.”

Zoetis shares slightly moved down in the mid-day trading Tuesday following the results. Nevertheless, ZTS stock has performed well over the past year despite a difficult operating environment due to the pandemic. Its share price has increased about 15 percent during the last 12 months.