Johnson Johnson lifts full-year revenue forecast as vaccine sales surge

Johnson Johnson JNJ posted stronger than expected third quarter earnings Tuesday and lifted its full-year revenue forecast, as vaccine sales are likely to reach $2.5 billion U.S. Johnson Johnson said adjusted earnings for the three months ending in September were pegged at $2.60 per share, up 18.2 per cent from the same period last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $2.35 per share. Group revenues, Johnson Johnson said, rose 10.5 per cent to $23.3 billion, a figure that missed analysts estimates of a $23.78 billion tally.

Looking into the final months of the year, Johnson Johnson said it sees adjusted earnings in the region of $9.65 to $9.70 per share, up from a prior forecast of between $9.50 and $9.60, with sales — including vaccines — in the region of $94.1 billion to $94.6 billion, up from $92.5 billion to $93.3 billion.

Our third-quarter results demonstrate solid performance across Johnson Johnson, driven by robust above-market results in Pharmaceuticals, ongoing recovery in Medical Devices and strong growth in Consumer Health, said outgoing CEO Alex Gorsky. In the face of evolving marketplace dynamics resulting from the effects of COVID - 19 and other global trends, we have continued to demonstrate the responsiveness and agility required to meet the needs of our stakeholders, while also successfully investing in a pipeline of innovation and key commercial platforms to drive our future growth. I am incredibly proud of our Company's transformational growth over the last decade, he added. As I prepare to transition the role of CEO to Joaquin Duato in January, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to our colleagues around the globe who work tirelessly to deliver solutions to address the world s most urgent and unmet health care challenges. Johnson shares were marked 2.12 per cent higher in early trading immediately following the earnings release to change hands at $163.50 each, a move that nudges the stock s year-to-date gain to around 4.5 per cent.

Consumer health sales rose 5.3 per cent to $3.7 billion, Johnson Johnson said, while pharmaceutical sales jumped 13.8 per cent to just under $13 billion. Medical device sales were up 8 per cent from last year to $6.6 billion.

Vaccine sales for the third quarter, Johnson Johnson said, came in at just over $500 million, a more than 200 per cent increase from the prior period.

Overall, JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott had a relatively in-line quarter, said Johnson Johnson. As always with Johnson Johnson, there were a lot of moving pieces in the quarter, but the core pharma biz ex-COVID vaccine continues to generate above market growth driven by Darzalex while the device business was only modestly impacted by the Delta variant.