J&J lifts profit and sales forecasts after beating expectations

Bengaluru/New York — Johnson & Johnson raised its 2024 profit and sales forecasts on Tuesday after reporting strong sales of oncology drugs and quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations.

The New Jersey-based healthcare conglomerate boosted its profit forecast for the year at the midpoint by 10c to $10.15 per share, excluding a 24c charge related to its purchase of medical device maker V-Wave.

The company also said it expected to post sales of $89.4bn-$89.8bn for the year, having previously forecast $89.2bn-$89.6bn.

However, it now expects to earn $9.86-$9.96 per share for the year, including charges related to merger and acquisitions, having previously forecast a range of $10-$10.10 per share.

J&J earned $2.42 per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, falling 9% on the previous year but beating analysts’ average estimates of $2.21, according to LSEG data. The company’s quarterly sales stood at $22.5bn, ahead of analysts’ expectations of $22.16bn.

Sales of J&J’s oncology drugs rose nearly 19% worldwide for the quarter, driven by sales of its cancer treatment Darzalex of more than $3bn, which rose 20.7% or more than $500m on the previous year.

Analysts, who expect Darzalex to bring in revenue of about $11bn for J&J this year, had expected the drug to make $2.92bn for the quarter.

J&J CFO Joe Wolk said continued adoption of the subcutaneous version of Darzalex, which significantly reduces treatment time, and regulatory approval of further indications for the drug helped drive sales.

Could fall

Sales of J&J’s blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara fell 6.6% to $2.68bn in the third quarter, but beat analyst estimates of $2.43bn, according to LSEG data. Of this, two-thirds came from sales in the US.

Stelara has long been a key driver of revenue growth for J&J, with analysts forecasting sales of more than $10bn this year. But this could fall to about $7bn in 2025 when as many as six close copies of the drug launch in the US.

The drug began facing competition from biosimilar rivals earlier this year in markets including Canada, the European Economic Area and Japan.

The company’s cancer cell therapy, Carvykti, brought in sales of $286m, beating estimates of $239m. Tight supply has limited Carvykti sales, with the company working to boost production capacity at its plants in New Jersey and Belgium.

Quarterly sales for J&J’s medtech unit rose 5.8% to nearly $7.9bn for the quarter, but fell short of analysts’ expectations of $8.05bn, according to LSEG data.

J&J said in July that the China market could be a “short-term” pain for the company.

Wolk said that J&J had hoped for “something better” in its medtech performance this quarter but faced headwinds in the Asia Pacific region, including in China and Japan.

Reuters