Johnson & Johnson's Profit Rises on Higher Consumer-Products Sales
April 14 2020 - 6:37AM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Sebastian
Johnson & Johnson's profit for the first quarter shot up as
the coronavirus health crisis drove demand for over-the-counter
medicine, though it said it might see a decline in sales this year
as it spends more in response to the pandemic.
The New Brunswick, N.J., company posted net income of $5.8
billion, or $2.17 a share, compared with $3.75 billion, or $1.39 a
share, in the comparable quarter last year.
Adjusted earnings were $2.30 a share, ahead of the $2.01 a share
analysts polled by FactSet had expected.
World-wide sales rose 3.3% to $20.69 billion from the year-ago
period, beating the $19.73 billion analysts had expected.
Sales in the U.S. rose 5.6% to $10.7 billion from the comparable
quarter last year, and international sales ticked up 1% to $9.99
billion.
Sales of consumer products, which include Tylenol medicine and
upper-respiratory products such as Zyrtec, rose 9.2% to $3.63
billion. The company has said that demand for Tylenol
over-the-counter medicine rose as people sought to use the
painkiller to reduce fever and relieve pain associated with
Covid-19.
Sales in the company's pharmaceuticals division rose 8.7% to
$11.13 billion, while those in its medical-devices business fell
8.2% to $5.93 billion as medical procedures got delayed during the
pandemic.
The company on Tuesday also raised its quarterly dividend by
6.3% to $1.01 a share.
For 2020, J&J said it expects adjusted earnings of $7.50 a
share to $7.90 a share, lower than its prior guidance of $8.95 a
share to $9.10 a share. It sees sales of $77.5 billion to $80.5
billion, reflecting a decline of 2% to 5.5% from the year-ago
period. Earlier this year it had expected 4% to 5% growth in
sales.
In late March, J&J said it plans to begin human trials for
its Covid-19 vaccine by September. The company said it has selected
a lead candidate for the vaccine from the constructs it had been
working on. It said it could obtain an emergency-use authorization
to make the vaccine widely available early next year.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 14, 2020 07:22 ET (11:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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