Shares in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell yesterday after the healthcare giant topped Wall Street’s expectations for fourth-quarter results but missed analysts’ forecast for the full-year.
Despite taking a $13.6 billion hit to its unremitted foreign earnings thanks to new efforts to reform the U.S. tax system, the company said it is pleased with the legislation and that it plans to “invest in innovation at higher levels to help address the most challenging unmet medical needs facing health care today.”
The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company posted losses of $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter, or -$3.99 per share, on sales of $20.20 billion, compared with profits of $3.81 billion on sales growth of 11.5% during the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.74, 2¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $20.07 billion.
Johnson & Johnson’s profits for the full-year were $1.30 billion, or 47¢ per share, on sales of $76.45 billion, for a bottom-line drop of -92.1% on sales growth of 6.3%. Adjusted EPS were $7.30, 57¢ under the consensus estimate of $80.70 billion.
Sales in the company’s pharmaceutical segment grew 17.6% to $9.7 billion for the quarter, with sales in the U.S. market up 15.5% and up 20.9% in the international market.
Johnson & Johnson also brought in $610 million from drugs in the pulmonary arterial hypertension space, which was benefited by its $30 billion buy-out last year of Swiss biotech Actelion. The acquisition added 4.2% to sales growth last year, according to the healthcare conglomerate.
Global full-year sales for the pharma segment jumped 8.3% year-over-year to $36.3 billion, up 6.7% in the domestic market and 10.8% in the international market.
“Johnson & Johnson delivered strong adjusted earnings per share growth of 8.5% and total shareholder return of greater than 24% in 2017, driven by the robust performance of our pharmaceutical business, while continuing to make investments in acquisitions, innovation and strategic partnerships to accelerate growth in each of our businesses,” chairman & CEO Alex Gorsky said in prepared remarks.
JNJ shares were trading at $142.08 apiece in morning activity today, up +0.2%.
