Johnson & Johnson Exceed Q1 Estimates
Johnson & Johnson have announced positive results for the first quarter of 2015, beating earnings expectations.
However, the company has been forced to lower their full-year expectations for 2015 from $6.12-$6.27 per share to $6.04-$6.19, as a result of exchange rates with a strong US dollar. The negative currency effect is expected to continue to hit the company throughout the year.
The healthcare company announced first-quarter earnings per share of $1.56, surpassing the average analyst estimate of $1.53, but down 4.3% on last year.
Sales also came in above the consensus forecast at $17.4 billion. Worldwide pharmaceutical sales increased by 3% to $7.7 billion, with operational growth of 10.2% and a negative impact from currency of 7.2%.
On the home-front revenue grew by 5.9%, but the overall result was dragged down by a 12.4% dip in international sales, largely due to negative currency effects. Domestic sales jumped 16.9% but internationally dropped 10.7%, reflecting an operational increase of 3.7% and a negative currency impact of 14.4%.
J&J confirmed that the operational sales growth was driven by new products and the strength of core ones. Revenues for Invokana, used to treat diabetes, near tripled to $278 million, while Johnson & Johnson’s newly launched cancer drug Imbruvica generated $116 million.
Growth of the biologics Stelara and Simponi hit 20.4% to $548 million and 16% to $300 million, respectively. However, turnover of the anti-inflammatory Remicade fell 0.6% to $1.6 billion.
Worldwide consumer sales of $3.4 billion dropped 4.7%, masking an operational increase of 3.4% and a negative impact from currency of 8.1%.
Sales within Medical Devices dropped by 11.4% to $6.3 billion as a result of both an operational decrease (4.6%) and a negative currency impact (6.8%).