NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Johnson & Johnson Tuesday reported a 19 percent jump in its third-quarter profit that edged past Wall Street expectations on strong sales of its medical devices and prescription drugs.

The maker of Band-Aids and Tylenol earned $1.8 billion, or 60 cents a share, up from $1.5 billion, or 50 cents, excluding special items, in the year-earlier period. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call were forecasting earnings per share of 59 cents.

J&J said its revenue for the quarter rose nearly 13 percent to $9.1 billion, which was also slightly ahead of analysts' expectations, according to another research firm, Multex.

Worldwide pharmaceutical sales in the period jumped 16 percent to $4.3 billion, led by such treatments as anemia medicine Procrit and Remicade for arthritis.

Medical Device revenue rose to $3.1 billion, a gain of 13 percent over the same quarter last year, with strong growth in orthopedic and circulatory-disease products such as stents -- tiny tubular devices that prop open weakened arteries.

J&J is expected to win U.S. marketing approval early next year for a new drug-coated stent, called Cypher, that analysts predict could garner annual sales of $3 billion. It is designed to prevent coronary arteries from reclogging with scar tissue after doctors implant the device.

Shares of J&J (JNJ: down $0.03 to $57.80, Research, Estimates) are off only 2 percent since the start of the year, vastly outperforming its peers on both the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical index and the 30 stocks on the Dow Jones industrial average, both of which are off 21 percent during the same time period.  

-- from staff and wire reports