could johnson and johnson hit 1 trillion valuation

Johnson & Johnson CFO defends sales miss in fiscal Q3

Written by
Written on Oct 19, 2021
Reading time 2 minutes
  • Johnson & Johnson reports mixed results for its fiscal third quarter.
  • The American multinational raised its guidance for the full year.
  • CFO Wolk discussed quarterly results on CNBC's "Squawk Box".

Follow Invezz on Telegram, Twitter, and Google News for instant updates >

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) beat Wall Street estimates for earnings in the fiscal third quarter despite a slight miss on the sales front. Shares of the company were up 1.0% in premarket trading on raised full-year guidance.

Highlights from CFO Wolk’s interview with CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’

Copy link to section

On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CFO Joseph Wolk blamed “timing” for lower-than-expected sales from pharmaceuticals and medical devices unit in Q3. He said:

We experienced fluctuations in elective procedures with the Delta variant. Hospital staffing was also somewhat constrained that served to further reduce volume of elective procedures in Q3. We see those procedures coming back in the fourth quarter or early next year.

Wolk also expects the staffing shortage to improve in Q4. Last week, the advisory panel of the U.S. FDA voted in favour of Johnson & Johnson’s booster for people aged 18 and older after at least 2 months of the initial dose.

Q3 financial performance

Copy link to section

Johnson & Johnson reported $2.60 of adjusted per-share earnings in the third quarter on $23.34 billion in revenue. According to Refinitiv, experts had forecast $2.35 of adjusted EPS but a slightly higher $23.72 billion in revenue.

JNJ’s COVID-19 vaccine contributed $502 million to the total revenue in the recent quarter. Sales from its consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices segments were up 5.3%, 13.8%, and 8.0%, respectively, as per the earnings press release.

Full-year guidance

Copy link to section

For the full year, Johnson & Johnson now forecasts up to $9.82 of per-share earnings on $94.1 billion to $94.6 billion in sales. It maintained its guidance for COVID-19 vaccine sales at $2.5 billion this year.

Earlier this year in August, JNJ discontinued the HIV vaccine trial on insufficient efficacy.

Advertisement