Zoetis trims annual revenue forecast on muted demand for animal treatments, shares slide

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By Padmanabhan Ananthan

(Reuters) -Animal healthcare company Zoetis on Tuesday trimmed its annual revenue forecast on expectations of softer demand for its medicines and vaccines for pets and livestock, sending its shares down over 13% in morning trading.

Zoetis experienced subdued demand for pet medicines and vaccines in the third quarter. Distributor hesitancy around restocking and consumers tightening spending due to broader economic uncertainty, weighed on sales.

“We saw declining visits across all major therapeutic areas during the third quarter, which impacted new patient starts,” CEO Kristin Peck told analysts in a conference call.

CFO Wetteny Joseph added that distributor inventories have remained near the low end of the company’s target range since early 2023 and were still there at quarter‑end.

The New Jersey-based company now expects 2025 revenue between $9.40 billion and $9.48 billion, compared with its earlier range of $9.45 billion and $9.60 billion.

It also reaffirmed its forecast for annual adjusted profit per share in the range of $6.30 and $6.40.

“The magnitude of the miss and guide-down was greater than anticipated,” said Leerink Partners analyst Daniel Clark.

Analysts, on average, were expecting annual revenue of $9.52 billion and adjusted earnings of $6.35 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

For the reported quarter, Zoetis’ adjusted earnings of $1.70 per share came in above estimates of $1.62 per share.

Its quarterly revenue rose 1% to $2.40 billion, compared with the estimates of $2.41 billion.

(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)