Pfizer Quiver Now Bare

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Dec. 4 at 7:23 a.m. ET. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers. For more information about subscribing to RealMoney, please click here.

Maybe they really are a bunch of jokers at Pfizer (PFE Quote). Either that, or their timing is just nightmarish. I can't believe that two days after the company discussed a new cholesterol drug at its analyst day that they scrap it.

I know most people who peripherally follow this company may ask how one far-away drug could be so important. But frankly, I didn't see anything else at Pfizer that could make up for even a fraction of the lost revenues for Lipitor.

You are now in Bristol-Myers (BMY Quote) mode for Pfizer, meaning that BMY post-Plavix going generic had surprisingly little going on. I still believe BMY may have to cut its dividend when the full brunt of 2007 losses at Plavix get realized. (Either that or sell itself to Pfizer now that Pfizer has lost its future.)

The truly nutty thing about all of this is that Pfizer's meeting last week now appears to be much ado about nothing, a manufactured guide-up that was really about one thing: Don't lose faith in Pfizer, we have this new cholesterol drug!

I panned Pfizer aggressively in these pages and the airwaves, in part because I just believe that companies with no real sales growth don't belong in peoples' portfolios. I was bombarded by people reminding me that Pfizer's about to launch this new drug that would save them.

Man, those critics must be quiet right now. As for me: as I said at the end of Confessions of a Street Addict: better to be lucky than good.

Random musings: Mark your calendar -- I've lined up two book-signing events for Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich and I want to see you there! On Monday, Dec. 4, come to the Barnes & Noble in Clifton, N.J. (395 Route 3 East) at 7:30 p.m. EST for some one-on-one with me. If you can't make that, I'll be in Borders Books and Music (290 Commons Way) of Bridgewater, N.J., just two nights later, Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. EST.