J&J Q4 earnings narrowly top expectations

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) just reported its financial results for the fourth quarter that slightly topped Street estimates. Its shares are roughly flat in premarket on Tuesday.

Johnson & Johnson’s guidance for fiscal 2024

The pharmaceutical giant now forecasts its full-year sales to fall between $87.8 billion and $88.6 billion on up to $10.75 of per-share earnings.

Analysts, in comparison, were at $87.9 billion and $10.68 a share, respectively. Joaquin Duato – the chief executive of Johnson & Johnson said in a press release today:

The earnings report arrives about six months after Johnson & Johnson spun off its consumer health business (Kenvue) to focus entirely on the two segments – pharmaceutical and medical devices. $JNJ is currently up more than 10% versus its low in late October.

Notable figures in J&J earnings release

• Earned $4.13 billion versus the year-ago $3.23 billion
• Per-share earnings also climbed from $1.22 to $1.70
• Adjusted EPS printed at $2.29 as per the press release
• Total sales jumped 7.3% year-on-year to $21.40 billion
• Consensus was $2.28 a share on $21.01 billion in sales

Medical devices and pharmaceuticals sales were up 13.3% and 4.2%, respectively. CEO Duato added on Tuesday:

Johnson & Johnson COVID sales

Fourth quarter was the fourth one for Johnson & Johnson that did not see contribution from COVID sales in the United States. Its vaccine, nonetheless, generated $44 million internationally.

J&J attributed strength in its medical devices segment partially to the Abiomed acquisition in December. The New York listed firm also bought Ambrx Biopharma for about $2.0 billion earlier this month as Invezz reported here.

Wall Street currently has a consensus "overweight" rating on $JNJ that pays a dividend yield of 2.93% at writing.