Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, said fourth-quarter earnings rose as the $16.6 billion sale of its consumer unit offset revenue declines for two of its biggest-selling drugs, including the cholesterol pill Lipitor.

Net income jumped to $9.45 billion, or $1.32 a share, from $2.73 billion, or 37 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Profit excluding certain costs, while beating analyst estimates, fell 12 percent. Pfizer plans to announce new job cuts and plant closings today.

Revenue rose less than a percent to $12.6 billion as sales plunged for Pfizer's third-biggest drug, the antidepressant Zoloft, because of generic competition. While the $7.9 billion gain on the sale of the consumer unit to Johnson & Johnson helped make up for lower profits from operations, Pfizer needs to expand its plan to reduce expenses by $4 billion a year, analysts said.

``If you look over the next couple years Pfizer will continue to face a tough environment with revenue basically flat, so the company has embarked on and we think will accelerate a restructuring plan already in place,'' said Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan in a telephone interview today.

Pfizer later today may outline an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion in annual spending cuts and a plan to fire about 20 percent of its international sales force, Ryan said. Those cuts would be on top of a plan already under way to cut $4 billion in annual costs by 2008.

2007 Estimates

Pfizer executives also are to discuss estimates for 2007 at a meeting with analysts this afternoon in New York.

Pfizer shares rose 15 cents, or a half percent, to $27.37 at 8:32 a.m. New York time, before the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock gained 10 percent in the 12 months through Jan. 19.

Profit excluding results from discontinued operations, purchase-accounting adjustments and certain other costs fell to 43 cents a share, the company said. That beat the 42-cent average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Income from continuing operations, excluding the gain on the sale of the consumer unit, fell 43 percent to $1.5 billion from $2.6 billion, Pfizer reported.

Pfizer's debt was downgraded to Aa1 from Aaa by Moody's Investors Service in December on concern that the drugmaker didn't have enough new products to replace revenue it is losing from generic competition. Pfizer had been one of only nine U.S. companies to have the Aaa ranking.

S&P Rating

Standard & Poor's still rates Pfizer debt AAA with a negative outlook, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sales of Pfizer's top-selling Lipitor, which accounts for almost half of profit, declined to $3.34 billion in the fourth quarter from $3.36 billion a year earlier. Analyst Roopesh Patel at UBS Securities LLC in New York was expecting Lipitor sales of $3.3 billion.

Revenue from Zoloft plunged 79 percent to $166 million. The product's patent expired in June, clearing the way for generic competition.

Sales of the company's new quit-smoking drug Chantix were $68 million in the drug's second quarter on the market. The company didn't report sales for its new inhaled insulin Exubera.

Pfizer said it submitted an application in December with U.S. regulators for approval to market the pain drug Lyrica for fibromyalgia, a condition that causes fatigue and muscle weakness.

For the full year, Pfizer's net income more than doubled to $19.3 billion, or $2.66 a share, from $8.1 billion, or $1.09, in 2005, including profits from the consumer unit. Revenue minus sales from the consumer division rose 2 percent to $48.4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 22, 2007 08:38 EST