J&J beats forecasts with 14% EPS rise

US health care company Johnson & Johnson reported net earnings up 14.2%at $1.5 billion for the first quarter of 2001, while earnings per share improved 14% to $1.06, which is $0.02 ahead of Thompson Financial/ First Call consensus forecasts. The news sent J&J's stock up 1.7% by mid-session on the day of the announcement (April 17). Group sales for the quarter rose 6.5% to $7.8 billion.

Worldwide pharmaceutical turnover was $3.3 billion, representing an operational increase of 9.8% on the like, year-earlier period. Domestics sales improved 9.1% while international revenues grew 10.9% operationally but were offset by a negative currency impact of 7.2%. The company says that, excluding the currency impact and the withdrawal of Propulsid (cisapride) due to a series of cardiovascular events (Marketletter April 3, 2000), global drug sales were up 15.1%.

Driving the pharmaceutical division's growth for the quarter were Procrit/Eprex (epoetin alfa) for anemia, the antipsychotic Risperdal (risperidone), Remicade (infliximab) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, the transdermal chronic pain treatment patch Duragesic (fentanyl), Topamax (topiramate), an antiepileptic, and Acipex/Pariet (rabeprazole), a proton pump inhibitor.