Johnson & Johnson's Profit, Sales Rise

By Dave Sebastian

Johnson & Johnson said its profit and sales rose for the fourth quarter, roughly in line with Wall Street estimates.

The New Jersey-based health-products company reported net income of $4.01 billion, or $1.50 a share, compared with $3.04 billion, or $1.12 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding special items, Johnson & Johnson earned $1.88 a share.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.87 a share.

World-wide sales rose to $20.75 billion from $20.39 billion for the same period in the prior year. Analysts were looking for $20.8 billion.

U.S. sales rose 1.4% to $10.77 billion from the comparable quarter a year earlier, and international sales rose 2.1% to $9.97 billion.

Sales in the company's pharmaceuticals division rose 3.5% to $10.55 billion. Sales in its medical-devices business fell 0.5% to $6.63 billion. Sales of consumer products, which include Neutrogena beauty products and Tylenol medicine, rose 0.9% to $3.57 billion.

For 2020, the company said it sees operational sales of $85.8 billion to $86.6 billion. The company expects adjusted operational sales to grow 5% to 6% from a year earlier.

Johnson & Johnson guided adjusted per-share earnings of $8.95 to $9.10.

J&J has had a series of costly legal setbacks. In August, an Oklahoma judge ordered the company to pay $572 million for contributing to the state's opioid-addiction crisis. Overall, J&J is facing lawsuits from about 100,000 plaintiffs over the safety and marketing of products including Johnson's Baby Powder, opioids and medical devices.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2020 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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