Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today reported fourth quarter results that beat The Street on sales but only matched on earnings.
JNJ shares were down more than 1% to $215.15 apiece in morning trading. The S&P 500 was up slightly.
For the quarter that ended Dec. 28, 2025, Johnson & Johnson earned $5.1 billion, or $2.10 per share, off of $24.6 billion in sales. The bottom line was up 49.1%, and the top line was up 9.1% compared with Q4 2024.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, J&J had earnings of $2.46 per share, matching the Wall Street consensus. Revenue beat analysts’ expectations of $24.15 billion.
“2025 was a catapult year for Johnson & Johnson, fueled by the strongest portfolio and pipeline in our history,” CEO Joaquin Duato said in a news release. “Last year kicked off a new era of accelerated growth, driven by medical innovation that is transforming lives in our six key businesses: Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular, Surgery, and Vision. In each of these important areas, our leadership is expanding, driven by game-changing science and technology.”
In the fourth quarter, J&J Innovation Medicine segment sales were up 10% (6.2% adjusted operational) to $15.8 billion, while MedTech segment sales were up 7.5% (5.9% adjusted operational) to $8.8 billion.
“Johnson & Johnson is the only healthcare company that will soon deliver more than $100 billion in annual revenue,” Duato said during J&J’s earnings call with analysts. “How is that possible? It’s possible because we have tremendous strength and depth, both in Innovative Medicine and in MedTech.
“We are different from other companies,” he continued. “We are not focused on one or two growth drivers. In fact, we now have 28 platforms or products that generate at least $1 billion of revenue annually, and that makes our growth more sustainable.”
MedTech growth was driven primarily by electrophysiology products and Abiomed heart pumps in Cardiovascular and wound closure products in General Surgery. In J&J MedTech, Cardiovascular sales were up 11.5%, Vision was up 8.9%, Surgery was up 5.5%, and Orthopaedics was up 5.3%.
M&A has fueled Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s growth in recent years. Those deals include the $13.1 billion purchase in 2024 of Shockwave Medical and its intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) technology that uses sonic waves to treat calcified arterial plaque. J&J continues to report positive data on Shockwave technology.
The Shockwave purchase followed J&J’s $400 million acquisition of left atrial appendage (LAA) device maker Laminar in 2023 and the $16.6 billion purchase of Abiomed and its catheter-delivered Impella heart pumps to treat heart failure in 2022.
J&J recently achieved a CE mark in the EU for its dual-energy ThermoCool SmartTouch SF catheter to treat AFib. It plans to submit the system to the FDA.
Expect J&J’s cardiology focus to increase even more as it moves forward with separating its DePuy Synthes Orthopaedics business, which is expected in mid-2027.
J&J’s Surgery business recently hit a milestone with FDA de novo submission of its Ottava soft-tissue robotic surgery system, its bid to compete against Intuitive, Medtronic and others in the space.
Duato said 50% of J&J MedTech’s assets are participating in markets growing at rates of more than 5%. He said he expects the portion to catapult to 70% once the ortho business separation is completed.
Tim Schmid, Johnson & Johnson EVP and global medtech chair, shared the business’ growth playbook during our DeviceTalks West event last October. Our sibling Medical Design & Outsourcing site has a recap. (Download MassDevice’s free Cardio Device Companies Special Report to find out more about the world’s largest cardio device companies, including J&J.)
For full-year 2026, Johnson & Johnson expects operational sales of $99.5 billion–$100.5 billion, more than the present Wall Street consensus of $98.9 billion.
The full-year adjusted EPS forecast of $11.43–$11.63 per share is in-line with analysts’ expectation of $11.45 per share.
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