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J&J beats 3Q forecasts
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October 16, 2001: 10:42 a.m. ET
Drugmaker reports improved results and reaffirms 4Q drug-sales outlook.
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - Healthcare products maker Johnson & Johnson posted improved third-quarter profit and sales Tuesday that topped past Wall Street forecasts, and reaffirmed its fourth-quarter estimates due to strong sales of key drugs.
J&J earned $1.5 billion, or 50 cents a share, in the quarter, excluding charges related to a recent merger. That's up from $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, earned a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecasted that the company would earn 48 cents a share in the period.
Revenue rose to $8.2 billion from $7.2 billion a year earlier. First Call's forecast was for sales of $7.9 billion.
Including a $24 million after-tax charge related to the company's merger with Alza Pharmaceuticals, completed June 22, Johnson earned 49 cents a share in the period.
The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based health care group forecast fourth-quarter earnings of 38 cents per share, in line with analysts' estimates. The firm raised the year-end estimate to $1.90 per share from an earlier forecast of $1.88. It also said it was comfortable with the 2002 EPS estimate of $2.18.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, traded up 54 cents at $56.26 in early Tuesday trading.
"I am particularly pleased with our double-digit growth in both sales and earnings as these results reflect the strength and vitality of each of our business segments," CEO Ralph Larsen said in a statement.
Worldwide pharmaceutical sales increased 17.4 percent to $3.7 billion from the year-earlier quarter, excluding the impact of negative currency transactions.
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The company cited strong sales of key pharmaceuticals, including arthritis drug Remicade and anemia drug Procrit, for its improved outlook. Quarterly sales of Remicade jumped 129 percent to $209 million, while Procrit sales jumped 49 percent to $1.03 billion in the period after growing 29 percent in the second quarter, the company said.
J&J said pharmaceutical sales would have risen another $100 million in the third quarter if wholesalers had not stocked up on supplies in the second quarter ahead of scheduled price increases.
Global sales for schizophrenia treatment Risperdal rose 5 percent to $415 million, but fell 2 percent in the United States in the period, hurt by wholesaler buying in the earlier quarter. But a spokeswoman said prescriptions for Risperdal continued to grow sharply.
Worldwide sales in the medical devices and diagnostics segment rose 11.9 percent to $2.8 billion in the third quarter, excluding the results of negative currency transactions. 
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