Johnson & Johnson topped third-quarter expectations thanks to growth in pharmaceutical sales, but the health care giant continued to tread cautiously with its outlook due to the strong dollar.
J&J on Tuesday stuck to the midpoint of its 2022 forecast after lowering expectations the previous two quarters due to the impact of currency exchanges. The company now expects adjusted earnings to range between $10.02 and $10.07 per share.
That’s a narrower forecast than the $10-to-$10.10 range the company predicted in July.
For the full year, analysts expect, on average, earnings of $10.07 per share, according to FactSet.
J&J brings in nearly half of its sales from outside the United States. A strong U.S. dollar, which is now worth more than a euro for the first time in 20 years, can affect sales for companies that do a lot of international business.
They have to convert those sales into dollars when they report earnings. The stronger dollar decreases the value of those sales. It also gives foreign products a price edge in the United States.
In the third quarter, J&J’s profit climbed 22% to $4.46 billion. Revenue rose 2% to $23.79 billion, and adjusted earnings totaled $2.55 per share.
Analysts were expecting earnings of $2.48 per share on $23.36 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Revenue from the company’s biggest segment, pharmaceutical, climbed 2.6% — or 9% without the impact of foreign exchange — to $13.2 billion. That business was charged by sales of the blood cancer treatment Darzalex, which soared nearly 30% to $2.06 billion.
J&J also brought in $2.45 billion in worldwide sales from Stelara, which treats psoriasis and other inflammatory disorders.
The company recorded no U.S. sales in the quarter from its one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, which brought in $489 million in revenue from international markets.
J&J’s vaccine was one of three initially authorized by U.S. regulators to protect against COVID-19. But the government has since strictly limited who can receive the shot due to a small risk of rare but serious blood clots.
Sales also climbed 2% in the medical device segment, to $6.78 billion, while revenue slipped in consumer health. J&J is spinning off that segment, which sells Band Aids and beauty products, into a separate, publicly traded company named Kenvue.
Shares of New Brunswick, New Jersey, company rose more than 2% before the opening bell. Shares are down 2.6% this year. That compares to the roughly 17% drop recorded by the Dow Jones industrial average, of which J&J is a component.
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