PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Pfizer

Benzinga's PreMarket Prep airs every morning from 8-9 a.m. ET. During that fast-paced, highly informative hour, traders and investors tune in to get the major news of the day, the catalysts behind those moves and the corresponding price action for the upcoming session.

On any given day, the show will cover at least 20 stocks determined by co-hosts Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick along with producer Spencer Israel.

There is no doubt that earnings reports instigate the biggest moves in an issue. Closely analyzing after-hours and premarket price action can provide clues for traders, and this was certainly the case on Tuesday for Pfizer Inc. PFE, which is the PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day.

Pfizer Strong Ahead Of Q1 Report: Pfizer has had its ups and downs over the last year, but had an impressive rally heading into its quarterly report.

After putting in place multiple lows above and below the $34 level in late February and into mid-March, the issue began to grind higher.

The pace of the rally was slow and steady with a large part of the gains coming in five consecutive sessions (April 15-21), rallying from $37.17 to $39.67.

Its high for the rebound and closing high were made in Monday’s session, when it ended the session one penny off its high at $39.83.

Pfizer's Q1 Beat: Before the open Tuesday, Pfizer reported quarterly earnings of 93 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 78 cents.

The company reported quarterly sales of $14.6 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $13.6 billion.

In addition, the company raised FY21 adjusted EPS guidance from $3.10-$3.20 to $3.55-$3.65 vs. a $3.36 estimate and sales guidance from $59.4-$61.4 billion to $70.5-$72.5 billion vs. a $62.99-billion estimate.

Pfizer Goes Up, Up And Away: Within minutes Tuesday, the issue rallied to $40.60 and exceeded that high later on, when it peaked at $40.65 and reversed course and began to drift lower.

Investors and traders have the option to purchase what is called the NYSE Open Book. It's a market data subscription offered by the exchange that provides a real-time view of the exchange's limit order book for all NYSE-traded securities, which allows investors to see aggregated limit-order volume at every bid and offer price within certain parameters.

When the issue was being discussed on "PreMarket Prep" Tuesday, it was trading at the $40.15 area. By utilizing the NYSE Open Book, co-host Dennis Dick identified well over 1.5 million shares for sale between $39.84 and $40.

Dick went on to explain that all of those limit orders had to be at their price or better. 
“Although that much volume has traded to absorb the offers, more may be entered before the open and put more selling pressure on the issue,” he said.

The full discussion on the issue from Tuesday’s show can be found here:

Pfizer's Price Action Off The Open: Pfizer’s first print of the session Tuesday was exactly $40. It rallied by a dime to $40.10, but another wave of sellers ambushed the issue.

Along with new sellers, trapped longs off the open nudged to the issue well beyond Monday's close ($39.83) to $39.43 and reversed course again.

It went on to make a new high at $40.15. The stock was down 0.13% at $39.78 at last check.