Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) posted fourth-quarter results today that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street — with the company predicting a return to strong sales growth in 2021.
The New Brunswick, N.J.–based pharma, medical device and consumer products giant reported profits of $1.7 billion, or 65¢ per share, on sales of $22.5 billion for the three months ended Dec. 29, 2020, for a bottom-line decline of –56.7% on sales growth of 8.3% compared with Q4 2019.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.86, 4¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking EPS of $1.82 on sales of $21.7 billion.
CEO Alex Gorsky said in a news release that the company is leading in the fight against COVID-19.
“We continue to progress our COVID-19 vaccine candidate and look forward to sharing details from our Phase 3 study soon,” Gorsky said. “Johnson & Johnson was built for times like these, and I am extremely confident in our ability to deliver lasting value and continued innovation in 2021 and for years to come.”
J&J expects to log adjusted earnings per share of $9.40–$9.60 this year, a 17.1%–19.6% increase over 2020, with sales growth of 9.5%–11.0% bringing in $90.5–$91.7 billion in revenue. Wall Street analysts on average had predicted earnings per share of $8.99 off $89 billion in 2021.
Investors reacted by sending JNJ shares up 2.6% to $1.70 apiece today in morning trading.