J&J lifts profit and sales forecasts, beats Wall Street expectations

By Patrick Wingrove and Bhanvi Satija

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson raised its 2024 profit and sales forecasts on Tuesday after reporting strong sales of oncology drugs and quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations.

The New Jersey-based healthcare conglomerate boosted its profit forecast for the year at the midpoint 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 expected to post sales of between $89.4 billion and $89.8 billion for the year, having previously forecast $89.2 billion to $89.6 billion.

However, it now expects to earn between $9.86 and $9.96 per share for the year, including charges related to merger and acquisitions, having previously forecast a range of $10 to $10.10 per share. 

J&J earned $2.42 per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, falling 9% on the previous year but beating analysts' average estimates of $2.21, according to LSEG data. The company's quarterly sales stood at $22.5 billion, ahead of analysts' expectations of $22.16 billion. 

Sales of J&J's oncology drugs rose nearly 19% worldwide for the quarter, driven by sales of its cancer treatment Darzalex of more than $3 billion, which rose 20.7% or more than $500 million on the previous year.

Analysts, who expect Darzalex to bring in revenue of about $11 billion for J&J this year, had expected the drug to make $2.92 billion for the 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 blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara fell 6.6% to $2.68 billion in the third quarter, but beat analyst estimates of $2.43 billion, according to LSEG data. Of this, two-thirds came from sales in the U.S. 

Stelara has long been a key driver of revenue growth for J&J, with analysts forecasting sales of over $10 billion this year. But this could fall to about $7 billion in 2025 when as many as six close copies of the drug launch in the U.S.

The drug began facing competition from biosimilar rivals earlier this year in markets including Canada, the European Economic Area and Japan. 

The company's cancer cell therapy, Carvykti, brought in sales of $286 million, beating estimates of $239 million. Tight supply has limited Carvykti sales, with the company working to boost production capacity at its plants in New Jersey and Belgium.

Quarterly sales for J&J's medtech unit rose 5.8% to nearly $7.9 billion for the quarter, but fell short of analysts' expectations of $8.05 billion, according to LSEG data

J&J said in July that the China market could be a "short term" pain for the company. 

Wolk told Reuters that J&J had hoped for "something better" in its medtech 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)