Johnson & Johnson tops Q2 profit forecasts
Higher spending on marketing, production and research pushed down Johnson & Johnson’s second-quarter profit 4.3 percent despite slightly higher sales for the health care products giant. But with its biggest acquisition ever just completed, bringing it multiple new prescription medicines to sell, J&J raised its financial forecasts for the year.
The maker of blood thinner Xarelto, Tylenol and other pain relievers, and medical devices yesterday reported net income of $3.83 billion, or $1.40 per share, down from $4 billion, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier. Adjusted results, excluding one-time charges, amounted to $5 billion, or $1.83 per share. That topped Wall Street per-share expectations of $1.79, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue was $18.84 billion, just shy of analyst expectations for $18.89 billion.
“We are optimistic that the investments we are making will accelerate our sales growth in the second half of this year,” CEO Alex Gorsky said in a statement. “The Actelion acquisition establishes a new therapeutic area as well as another engine for growth.” J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, closed that $30 billion deal in June, gaining Actelion’s three drugs for treating high blood pressure in the lungs, other marketed products and some experimental drugs in late-stage testing.
The company’s prescription drugs business, its largest segment, saw sales dip 0.2 percent to $8.64 billion, while sales of consumer health products such as Johnson’s baby care items edged up 1.7 percent to $3.48 billion. Meanwhile, sales of medical devices and diagnostic products climbed 4.9 percent to $6.73 billion, indicating the restructuring begun a year ago is turning around problems in the segment.
J&J said it now expects full-year earnings in the range of $7.12 to $7.22 per share, up from it April forecast of $7 to $7.15 per share. It forecast revenue in the range of $75.8 billion to $76.1 billion, up from $75.4 billion to $76.1 billion. —AP