Air ales of the cancer treatment Dazalex fueled Johnson Johnson's better than expected earnings in the third quarter while COVID - 19 fueled vaccine revenue and had more customers turning to Tylenol.
The world's largest health care provider hiked its 2021 earnings forecast after saying Tuesday that net income climbed 3% to $3.67 billion in the recently completed quarter.
Sales of the company s single dose COVID-19 vaccine started to pack up in the quarter and nearly doubled what it brought in during the first half of 2021.
J&J also said that sales of over the counter drugs, which do not need prescriptions, grew 18% worldwide as more customers bought Tylenol and Motrin partly because they wanted vaccine symptom relief.
Injections of COVID-19 vaccines, widely available since spring, come with side effects like arm soreness or a temporary fever.
J&J rang up $502 million in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine in the third quarter after pulling in $264 million during the first half of 2021.
Its rollout was hurt by manufacturing complications and concern about rare side effects, including a blood clot disorder.
But most executives expect sales to pick up and total around $2.5 billion in the year. The company has said it doesn t intend to profit from the shots.
Last Friday, Food and Drug Administration advisers endorsed other shots of vaccine like they did for booster shots from rivals Pfizer and Moderna. The FDA still has to decide whether to authorize extra shots. Then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will weigh in on who should get them.
Should I Get a Booster shot as Delta Spreads?
Outside vaccines, sales of J&J's Multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex jumped in the fourth quarter to $1.58 billion. That helped revenue from the company s largest business, pharmaceuticals, grow about 14% to nearly $13 billion.
Sales from J&J's medical device segment grew 8% to $6.64 billion, even though a surge in COVID - 19 cases prompted doctors and hospitals to postpone some non-emergency procedures like knee surgeries during the quarter.
Overall, J&J s adjusted earnings netted $2.60 per share while sales grew nearly 11% to $23.34 billion.
Analysts expected earnings of $2.35 per share to a revenue of $23.64 billion in average, according to FactSet.
J&J today forecasts earnings for 2021 adjusted between $9.77 and $9.82 per share. The company also tightened its expectation for operational sales, which exclude the impact of currency exchange rates, to $92.8 billion to $93.3 billion.
Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of $9.71 per share on $94.36 billion sales.
Shares of J&J rose in late-night trading more than 2% to $164.25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which J&J is a component, rose slightly.