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Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ fourth-quarter 2024 earnings came in at $2.04 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.00. Earnings declined 10.9% from the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings exclude intangible amortization expense and special items, including which, reported earnings were $1.41 per share, down 17.1% year over year.

Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Sales of this drug and medical devices giant came in at $22.52 billion, which marginally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $22.51 billion. Sales rose 5.3% from the year-ago quarter, reflecting an operational increase of 6.7% and a negative currency impact of 1.4%. Organically, excluding the impact of acquisitions/divestitures and currency, sales rose 5.7% on an operational basis.

Fourth-quarter sales in the domestic market rose 10% to $13.2 billion. Excluding the impact of all acquisitions and divestitures on an adjusted operational basis, domestic sales rose 8.6% in the quarter.

International sales declined 0.7% on a reported basis to $9.32 billion, reflecting an operational increase of 2.5% and a negative currency impact of 3.2%. Excluding the impact of all acquisitions and divestitures on an adjusted operational basis, international sales rose 2.0% in the quarter.

J&J’s Innovative Medicines Unit Outperforms, MedTech Misses

With the complete separation of the Consumer Health segment into a newly listed company called Kenvue KVUE in 2023, J&J has now become a two-sector company focused on the Pharmaceutical and MedTech fields.

Sales in J&J’s Innovative Medicines segment rose 4.4% year over year to $14.33 billion, reflecting a 6.1% operational increase, offset by a 1.7% negative currency impact. Excluding the impact of all acquisitions and divestitures and currency on an adjusted operational basis, worldwide sales rose 6.3%. Innovative Medicines sales beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.27 billion as well as our model estimate of $14.1 billion.

Higher sales of key products such as Darzalex, Tremfya, Uptravi, and Erleada drove the segment’s growth. New drugs like Carvykti, Tecvayli and Spravato also contributed to growth. Xarelto and Simponi/Simponi Aria sales also improved in the quarter. The sales growth was partially dampened by lower sales of Stelara, Imbruvica and generic/biosimilar competition to drugs like Zytiga and Remicade.

Sales of blockbuster multiple myeloma medicine Darzalex rose 20.9% year over year to $3.08 billion in the quarter. Sales beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.04 billion and our model estimate of $3.06 billion.

Sales of the blockbuster psoriasis drug Stelara declined 14.7% to $2.35 billion in the quarter, primarily due to European biosimilar entrants. While U.S. sales of Stelara declined 4.9%, international sales declined 32.7% in the quarter. However, Stelara sales slightly beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.34 billion as well as our model estimate of $2.21 billion.

A biosimilar version of Stelara was launched in certain European markets for certain indications in July 2024.

Several biosimilar versions of Stelara are expected to be launched in the United States in 2025. Amgen AMGN launched the first Stelara biosimilar, Wezlana, in January 2025. However, Amgen’s biosimilar launch is unlikely to have had an impact on Stelara’s sales in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Imbruvica sales declined 7.2% to $731.0 million. Rising competitive pressure in the United States due to new oral competition has been hurting sales of Imbruvica for the past few quarters. Imbruvica sales were, however, better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $729.0 million and our estimate of $710.1.

Erleada generated sales of $784.0 million in the quarter, up 20.9% year over year. Erleada sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $805.0 million as well as our model estimate of $793.8 million. Tremfya recorded sales of $949.0 million in the quarter, up 4.2% year over year. Tremfya sales also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.06 billion as well as our model estimate of $1.09 billion.

New drug Carvykti recorded sales of $334 million compared with $286 million in the previous quarter. Another new drug, Tecvayli, recorded sales of $146 million in the quarter, up 15.8% year over year,

Spravato recorded sales of $297.0 million, up 44.6% year over year.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug Uptravi recorded sales of $465.0 million, up 11.2% year over year. Another PAH drug, Opsumit, recorded sales of $545 million, up 1.7% year over year.

Xarelto sales rose 28.5% in the quarter to $676.0 million. Invega Sustenna/Xeplion/Invega Trinza/Trevicta sales rose 5.1% to $1.06 billion in the quarter. Simponi/Simponi Aria sales rose 16.2% to $583.0 million, while Prezista sales declined 7.4% to $407.0 million.

Zytiga sales declined 32.4% to $135.0 million in the quarter due to generic competition. Sales of Remicade were down 16.5% in the quarter to $359.0 million.

MedTech segment sales came in at $8.19 billion, up 6.7% from the year-ago period, as an operational increase of 7.6% was offset by a negative currency movement of 0.9%. MedTech segment sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.25 billion as well as our model estimate of $8.23 billion.

Excluding the impact of all acquisitions and divestitures, and currency, on an adjusted operational basis, worldwide sales rose 4.6%.

J&J’s MedTech business is facing continued headwinds in Asia Pacific, specifically in China. Sales in China are being hurt by the impact of the volume-based procurement (VBP) program, a government-driven cost containment effort in China. Competitive pressure is also hurting sales growth in some MedTech businesses.

J&J’s 2024 Results

Full-year 2024 sales rose 4.3% to $88.82 billion, marginally missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $88.84 billion. Sales were slightly ahead of the guidance range of $88.4 billion-$88.8 billion.

Adjusted earnings for 2024 were $9.98 per share, up 0.6% year over year. Earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.95 per share. Earnings matched the higher end of the guidance range of $9.88-$9.98 per share.

J&J's Sales Guidance for 2025

In 2025, the company expects sales in the range of $89.2 billion-$90.0 billion. The range falls short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $91.2 billion.

The sales range indicates growth in the range of 0.5%-1.5%. Operational sales growth is expected in the range of 2.5%-3.5%.

Adjusted operational sales (excluding currency impact, acquisitions/divestitures) growth is expected in the range of 2.0%-3.0%.

The revenue figures exclude revenues from COVID-19 vaccine sales.

Adjusted earnings per share are expected in the range of $10.50-$10.70. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $10.48 per share. The earnings range implies growth in the range of 5.2% to 7.2%.

Our Take on JNJ’s Q4 Results

J&J beat fourth-quarter estimates for both earnings and sales. Its Innovative Medicines unit once again outperformed expectations, with sales of key drug Darzalex beating estimates. Though sales of key drugs Stelara and Imbruvica declined in the quarter, they beat estimates. However, Erleada and Tremfya's sales slightly missed expectations. MedTech unit’s sales also missed estimates. J&J’s 2025 guidance range for 2025 was below expectations.

J&J’s shares were down around 2.4% in pre-market trading on Wednesday due to the disappointing sales guidance for this year.

In the past year, J&J’s stock has declined 8.9% compared with a decrease of 5.4% for the industry.

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J&J’s Innovative Medicines segment is showing a growth trend. In 2025, in its Innovative Medicine segment, growth is expected to be driven by its key products, such as Darzalex, Tremfya, and Erleada, as well as new launches, including Spravato, Carvykti and Tecvayli and new indications for Tremfya and Rybrevant. While strong global procedure growth, new product uptake and commercial execution are driving growth in the MedTech segment, headwinds in Asia-Pacific markets like China and competitive pressure in some categories are hurting growth. The launch of Stelara generics could significantly erode the drug’s sales in 2025 and hurt the company’s top line.

J&J has been on an acquisition spree lately. It completed acquisitions of Shockwave and V-Wave in MedTech and Ambrx, Proteologix and NM26 bispecific antibody in Innovative Medicine in 2024, which strengthened its pipeline.

Earlier this month, J&J announced a definitive agreement to acquire Intra-Cellular Therapies ITCI for $132.00 per share or approximately $14.6 billion. The acquisition will add Intra-Cellular Therapies’ only approved drug, Caplyta, for the treatment of bipolar I and II depression and schizophrenia to J&J’s neuroscience pipeline. The acquisition will also add Intra-cellular Therapeutics’ other CNS candidates, including ITI-1284, being developed for generalized anxiety disorder and Alzheimer’s disease-related psychosis and agitation, to JNJ’s pipeline.

J&J’s Zacks Rank

J&J currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Johnson & Johnson Price and Consensus

Johnson & Johnson price-consensus-chart | Johnson & Johnson Quote

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