Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Tuesday raised its 2024 earnings and sales forecasts after reporting strong oncology drug sales and quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations.
J&J shares rose more than 1% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
The New Jersey-based healthcare conglomerate raised its mid-year earnings forecast by 10 cents to $10.15 per share, excluding a 24 cent charge related to its purchase of medical device maker V-Wave.
The company also said it expects revenue of between $89.4 billion and $89.8 billion for this year, up from previously forecasting revenue of $89.2 billion to $89.6 billion.
However, it now expects to earn between $9.86 and $9.96 per share for this year, including costs related to mergers and acquisitions, after previously forecasting a margin of $10 to $10.10 per share.
J&J earned $2.42 per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, down 9% from the prior year but beating average analyst estimates of $2.21, according to LSEG data. The company’s quarterly revenue was $22.5 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $22.16 billion.
Sales of J&J’s oncology drugs rose nearly 19% globally this quarter, driven by sales of the more than $3 billion cancer treatment Darzalex, which rose 20.7%, or more than $500 million, from the previous year.
Analysts, who expect Darzalex to generate sales of about $11 billion for J&J this year, had expected the drug to bring in $2.92 billion this quarter.
J&J Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk said continued adoption of the subcutaneous version of Darzalex, which significantly reduces treatment time, and regulatory approval of further indications for the drug helped drive sales.
Sales of J&J’s hit psoriasis drug Stelara fell 6.6% to $2.68 billion in the third quarter, but beat analysts’ estimates of $2.43 billion, according to LSEG data. Of this, two-thirds came from US sales
Stelara has long been a key driver of sales growth for J&J, with analysts predicting sales of more than $10 billion this year. But this could drop to around $7 billion by 2025 if as many as six units of the drug are launched in the US.
The drug faced competition from biosimilar rivals in markets including Canada, the European Economic Area and Japan earlier this year.
The company’s cancer cell therapy, Carvykti, brought in revenue of $286 million, beating estimates of $239 million. The tight supply has limited Carvykti’s sales as the company works to increase production capacity at its factories in New Jersey and Belgium.
J&J’s medtech division’s quarterly revenue rose 5.8% to nearly $7.9 billion for the quarter, but fell short of analyst expectations of $8.05 billion, according to LSEG data.
J&J said in July that the Chinese market could be a “short-term pain” for the company.
Wolk told Reuters that J&J had hoped for “slightly better” in its medical performance this quarter but faced headwinds in the Asia-Pacific region, including in China and Japan.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru and Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
