Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday boosted its earnings guidance
for the year as results topped expectations in its second
quarter.
J&J said it now expects to post per-share earnings of $6.10
a share to $6.20 a share, up from its previous guidance of $6.04 a
share to $6.19 a share.
Shares, relatively flat over the past three months, edged up
0.7% in premarket trading.
New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J is facing patent expirations
and increased competition for many of its pharma products, such as
its hepatitis C treatment Olysio. It also is preparing for the
threat of increased competition in the U.S. from lower priced
biosimilar versions of its blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug
Remicade.
Meanwhile, the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against foreign
currencies has hamstrung J&J and many of its health-care peers
in recent quarters. J&J said foreign-exchange rates had a
negative impact of 7.9% in the quarter.
Pharmaceutical sales fell 6.6% in the quarter, while consumer
sales declined 7%.
Excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and hepatitis C sales,
underlying operational growth was 5%.
Overall, J&J reported a profit of $4.52 billion, or $1.61 a
share, up from $4.33 billion, or $1.51 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, per-share earnings were $1.71 in the
latest quarter.
Revenue fell 8.8% to $17.79 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$1.67 and revenue of $17.75 billion.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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