Johnson & Johnson, home to brands such as Neutrogena and Clean & Clear, reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday and raised its full-year sales forecast, helped by growing demand in its pharmaceutical division.
J&J's pharmaceuticals sales rose 19.4 percent to $9.84 billion, driven by sales of its cancer drugs such as Darzalex, Imbruvica and Zytiga that rose 45 percent to $2.31 billion in the quarter.
“We are pleased with the strong and consistent performance delivered by our colleagues around the world, demonstrated by our sales and EPS growth in the first quarter.” said Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive officer.
“Our Pharmaceutical business continues to deliver robust growth and we are pleased with the improvement in our Consumer business. In our Medical Devices businesses, we have areas of leadership and continue to make investments and portfolio choices to improve performance.”
J&J raised its full-year sales forecast to $81.0 billion to $81.8 billion from its previous forecast of $80.6 billion to $81.4 billion.
Excluding items, the company earned $2.06 per share. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $2.02 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales in the first quarter jumped to $20.01 billion from $17.77 billion a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates of $19.46 billion.
Net earnings fell to $4.37 billion, or $1.60 per share, from $4.42 billion, or $1.61 per share, a year earlier.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
