Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to post smaller profits in the first quarter. Both companies are scheduled to report results on Wednesday.

Southwest is expected to essentially break even as far as earnings are concerned, which is down from the same period in 2007 when it earned four cents per share. The company has beat quarterly estimates recently. It only just beat the consensus third-quarter 2007 estimate, but beat the fourth-quarter estimate by 21.2%.

Dallas-based Southwest's low-cost, no-frills approach has made it one of the leading U.S. airlines. In the past year, the company's revenues were $9.8 billion and its net income totaled $645 million. Its EPS growth forecast for the year is -28.7%, worse than the industry average but better than that of rival JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU). The consensus recommendation of analysts remains to buy Southwest.

The stock has fallen 18.5% in the past year and trades at a P/E of 14.7. Shares closed Tuesday at $12.35.

Good thing that Zoloft is no longer covered by patent protection. Now it will be a lot cheaper for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) investors to stock up on the anti-depressant so they can better cope with the drug maker's lousy earnings.

Net income in the second quarter plunged 48% to $1.27 billion, or $0.18 per share, on revenue of $10.11 billion. Excluding unpleasant stuff like restructuring charges, profit was $0.42. On that basis, Wall Street analysts expected profit of $0.50 on revenue of $11.4 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

Investors could take some solace knowing that the company doesn't think things will get much worse. It reaffirmed EPS and revenue guidance for 2007 and 2008. Good thing, too, since the company just cut its 2007 outlook in April.

Still, there wasn't much to cheer about in today's results. Sales of Lipitor, the company's most prescribed product, plunged 13% in the quarter, failing to meet Pfizer's own expectations. Zoloft sales plunged 82% while NORVASC fell 45% and Viagra fell 3%.

Investors expected sales of these drugs to plunge since they lost patent protection. Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler has cut jobs and closed factories to cut costs. But what the company needs more than anything are new best selling drugs.

Like the minor league system in baseball, drug companies count on their pipelines to replace aging players. Whether investors will give Pfizer enough time to develop its prospects is far from certain.

The boomer generation is limping toward retirement with pockets full of cash and bodies full of ailments, putting any drug company with top-drawer medications and solid patents in line for a windfall. Today's shakeup at Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) drug-pipeline management, with the announced retirement of R&D president John LaMattina [subscription required], suggests the company isn't happy with the lack of success in restocking its shelves.

Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, realized 64% of its 2006 revenue from its top nine sellers. Unfortunately, the patents for those brands are rapidly expiring:

• Norvasc: 2007
• Zyrtec: 2007
• Lipitor: 2010
• Viagra: 2012
• Detrol: 2012
• Cardura X: 2008

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is looking for additional uses for its popular drug Viagra in order to keep up sales when its patent expires in a few years. One possible use for Viagra is being studied at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. The study is to determine whether patients who have suffered moderate strokes will recover more rapidly if given Viagra within 7 days of stroke symptoms. Can the brain on Viagra form new blood vessels and nerve connections better than without Viagra?

In another clinical trial, Viagra, repackaged in white (not blue) 20 milligram pills and renamed Revatio, is used to treat pulmonary hypertension, a lung disorder affecting both adults and children. So we should give our kids a form of Viagra with their Flintstones vitamins? Pfizer has come under some criticism for the cost of Revatio compared to that of Viagra. Taken 3 times per day as Revatio, the drug costs $33.50 per day or over $11 per 20 milligram pill. Taken as Viagra in 100 milligram doses, the drug costs just over $11 per pill. Pfizer argues that the 20 milligram pill costs as much as the 100 milligram pill because of the increased costs to gain federal approval for use in an entirely new group of patients.

Viagra is also being studied for possible use in treating high blood pressure in pregnant women and to ease menopause symptoms. This last use has been challenged recently, particularly by a group of women in Utah. According to an article by Brooke Adams in The Salt Lake Tribune, at least 75 women have joined together to form a class action suit against Pfizer. The women claim that taking Pfizer's Provera, synthetic progesterone, to control menopause symptoms caused them to develop breast cancer.