Each quarter, investment firms managing over $100 million are required to file a form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings provide valuable insight into which stocks the “smart money” investors on Wall Street are buying and selling.

Last quarter, Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Israel Englander’s Millennium Management both bought Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) stock. Investing in Pfizer might look like a questionable move as shares are down nearly 30% over the last three years and the stock has woefully underperformed the S&P 500 throughout 2024.

While Pfizer’s current picture looks a little cloudy, there are a couple of potential catalysts that could fuel a new wave of growth for the company if well executed. Could Griffin and Englander be onto something here? Let’s dig in and explore what an investment in Pfizer might look like.

Pfizer is one of the most recognized pharmaceutical companies in the world. With such a rich history of developing blockbuster drugs across several pockets of the healthcare landscape, what could possibly be plaguing Pfizer stock right now?

Well, for starters, the company’s primary source of growth in recent years can be traced to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pfizer was a leading force against COVID-19, and the company’s vaccines and other solutions sparked record growth. However, while there is still a need for such medications, demand for Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatments has cratered as peak pandemic days appear to be in the rearview mirror.

Nevertheless, I see two potential areas that could help spark a turnaround for Pfizer.

In late 2023, Pfizer closed on a massive acquisition. The company bought an oncology business called Seagen for the not-so-low price tag of $43 billion. The acquisition helped bolster Pfizer’s clinical pipeline and augmented the company’s oncology-specific treatments.

According to Pfizer’s publications, the company hopes to have at least eight blockbuster oncology medications by 2030 — up from five today. If Pfizer executes on this vision, the company could stand to generate billions of dollars in sales across a host of different medications, helping set it up for sustained and robust growth.

Another lucrative opportunity for Pfizer right now is in the weight loss arena. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists such as Ozempic and Mounjaro are revolutionizing the diabetes and chronic weight management market. While Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are the two big forces in the GLP-1 realm right now, there are a number of other pharma companies looking to get involved, including Pfizer.

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