Johnson & Johnson Bumps Up Sales Target

By Kimberly Chin 

Johnson & Johnson raised its sales guidance in the latest quarter as the company continues to expand its pipeline and wins regulatory approvals.

The New Jersey-based company now expects reported sales for the year to be between $80.8 billion to $81.6 billion, up from $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion previously forecast.

J&J's profit climbed 42% for the second quarter to $5.61 billion, or $2.08 a share, from the comparable quarter a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $2.17 a share. Excluding special items, J&J made $2.58 a share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.94 a share.

Sales in its pharmaceuticals division in the U.S slipped by about 2% to $5.78 billion. Sales in its medical-devices business also fell 5.6% to $3.08 billion while sales in its U.S. consumer segment rose 4.1% to $5.78 billion.

Overall world-wide sales declined slightly from a year ago to $20.56 billion. Analysts expected $20.29 billion in sales.

In the past quarter, the company garnered some regulatory approvals for Imbruvica, an oral treatment for a type of lymph-node cancer, and Darzalex, which treats multiple myeloma.

Shares rose 0.8% in premarket trading.

Write to Kimberly Chin at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2019 07:38 ET (11:38 GMT)

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