Pfizer beats forecasts as oncology drugs grow

[July 29, 2014]  (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc, which in May officially abandoned its bid to buy British rival AstraZeneca Plc, reported higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings, helped by growing sales of its cancer medicines.

The largest U.S. drugmaker on Tuesday said it had earned $2.91 billion, or 45 cents per share. That compared with $14.1 billion, or $1.98 per share, a year earlier, when Pfizer received more than $10 billion in proceeds from the spinoff of its animal health business into a new publicly traded company, Zoetis.

Excluding special items, Pfizer earned 58 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 57 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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