Pfizer Gropes for Answers

At JP Morgan, analyst Chris Shibutani cut his rating to neutral from overweight, fearing that Pfizer's management could become distracted from its plan to cut costs and boost sales.

"While we believe management has the capacity to strategize a clear-eyed offensive, sure-footed execution will be the key," he wrote in a research report. He doesn't own shares. His firm has an investment banking relationship.

Shibutani wonders if the "apparent consequences" of the torcetrapib decision "will prove sufficiently disruptive to ongoing operations overall to put near-term performances of the core businesses at risk." Those consequences include "more rapid and extensive restructuring [and] more aggressive and potentially more urgently conducted business development activities," he says.

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