Although third-quarter profits for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) were off nearly -13%, the healthcare giant still managed to top the consensus estimate for sales and earnings per share on a top-line gain of more than 10%.
New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J posted profits of $3.76 billion, or $1.37 per share, on sales of $19.65 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30, for a bottom-line slide of -11.9% on sales growth of 10.3%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.90, a full dime ahead of the consensus on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $19.28 billion. That sent JNJ shares up 2.2% to $139.00 apiece today in pre-market trading.
“Johnson & Johnson accelerated growth in the third quarter. This is driven by the strong performance of our pharmaceutical business, and augmented by Actelion (ALIOF) and other recent acquisitions across the enterprise that will continue to fuel growth,” chairman & CEO Alex Gorsky said in prepared remarks. “Our dedicated colleagues continue to focus on advancing our pipelines to bring innovative solutions to patients and consumers around the globe.”
Johnson & Johnson boosted its outlook for the rest of the year, saying it now expects to post adjusted EPS of $7.25 to $7.30, up from$7.12 to $7.22 previously, on sales of $76.1 billion to $76.5 billion (up from $75.4 billion to $76.1 billion previously).
Medical device sales up 7%
Sales for J&J’s medical device division rose 7.1% to $6.60 billion during the quarter, paced by 9.6% growth to $3.41 billion overseas and 4.6% growth to $3.19 billion domestically. Consumer revenues rose 2.9% to $3.36 billion and pharmaceuticals revenues jumped 15.4% to$9.70 billion, the company said.
Within the medtech business, the vision care segment posted the most robust growth, up 47.6% to $1.09 billion compared with Q3 2016, followed by cardiovascular sales growth of 12.2% to $506 million. Surgical sales rose 2.7% to $2.35 billion; Johnson & Johnson’s orthopedics business was flat at $2.25 billion. The diabetes business reported a -5.2% drop to $405 million.