Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) stock lost over 1.7% on 22nd January 2019 (as of 11:06 am GMT-5; Source: Google finance) as they gave forecast for 2019 sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates. The company posted net profit of $3.04 billion for the fourth quarter compared with a loss of $10.71 billion a year earlier, when it recorded a $13.6 billion charge related to changes to the U.S. tax law.
JNJ in the fourth quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.97, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.95. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 1 percent to $20.4 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 18, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $20.2 billion. Pharmaceuticals sales grew 5.3 percent to $10.19 billion in the fourth quarter, led by Crohn’s disease treatment Stelara. Analysts had expected revenue of $10.08 billion for the unit. JNJ’s consumer business has improved slightly, in line with the sales estimates of $3.55 billion in the quarter, which is a slight improvement from the $3.54 billion in revenue it generated during the same quarter in 2017. Its medical device segment continued to struggle. Sales totaled $6.67 billion, which fell short of the $6.68 billion Wall Street had anticipated and down more than 4 percent from $6.97 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Johnson & Johnson expects 2019 sales to be in the range of $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $82.69 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The adjusted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $8.50 to $8.65, compared with analysts’ expectation of $8.60 per share.
In December, the Company had announced a share repurchase program of up to $5.0 billion of the Company’s common stock.
Meanwhile, during the fourth quarter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an additional indication for INVOKANA (canagliflozin) to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events, including heart attack, stroke or death due to a cardiovascular cause in adults with type 2 diabetes who have established CV disease. Further, the European Commission has approved apalutamide, which is a next generation oral androgen receptor inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) who are at high risk of developing metastatic disease.