With a market capitalization of more than $143 billion today, Pfizer (PFE 0.23%) stock won't make anyone into a millionaire unless they're willing to commit a large amount of capital and then hold the stock for a very long period of time, reinvesting all the dividends they receive along the way. Big pharma businesses simply don't grow quickly enough to deliver investors the massive returns that are necessary to generate millions from a humble starting sum.
There's no evidence that Pfizer is about to change its business model in a radical way which might challenge that dynamic. Still, it could be a great option for shoring up your portfolio with an asset that generates some solid cash flow and might appreciate a bit in value over time. Here's why.
There are a few paths to building wealth with this stock
One of the most obvious ways that a stock can help to boost your portfolio's value is by paying a dividend consistently over time. Pfizer could fill that role quite well, and now's an especially appealing time to invest in it for that purpose.
Its forward dividend yield of 6.5% is quite juicy. But -- as its payout ratio of over 100% indicates -- in the trailing 12-month period, the company paid out $9.4 billion in dividends while only reporting net income of $4.2 billion. While its operating cash flow of $11.2 billion over that period suggests there isn't much immediate danger of the dividend getting cut, it's reasonable to expect that the payment won't increase by more than a token amount over the next couple of years or so, when its general financial situation is slated to improve.
One strategy for driving that improvement will be paying down the debt it took on as part of its acquisition of Seagen, an oncology biotech. As of the third quarter, Pfizer had $56.9 billion in long-term debt, and $9.7 billion in current debt due within one year. Per management, investment in internal research and development (R&D) will also pick up once the company is a bit more deleveraged.
Even before that, the pipeline could be delivering a few medicines to help to prop up the top line, including several cancer drugs that are presently in phase 3 clinical trials. There's not much reason to believe that there are any blockbuster drugs in its mid- to late-stage pipeline right now, but a steady output of more modest earners could still drive growth in its earnings and its share price.
In the long term, its anti-obesity candidate, which is currently scheduled to enter phase 2 clinical trials, might be the blockbuster that investors are looking for to make Pfizer expand a bit faster. However, until the mid-stage efficacy results are determined and published, it makes sense to be skeptical about the candidate's earning potential.
The present opportunity won't last forever
One factor that makes Pfizer a decent pick for wealth building right now is its valuation, which is cheaper than it has been historically.
Over the past 10 years, its average price-to-sales (P/S) ratio was close to 4, whereas right now it's 2.4. It's true that the company's trailing 12-month revenue of $59.3 billion is nowhere near its peak of more than $100.3 billion in 2022, and it's a given that it won't be able to produce overnight multi-billion-dollar hits like its coronavirus jab ever again. But for investors with a long time horizon, the windfalls of the recent past are less important than Pfizer's ability to consistently add to its revenue and earnings as they are today.
In other words, even if this stock won't make you a millionaire, it could make you richer if you're willing to buy it now, when it's cheap, and when the near term doesn't look particularly promising. The core of the bet is that one of the world's greatest pharmaceutical businesses won't be lagging forever, and by the time it stops, its valuation will be far pricier than it is at the moment.
