Johnson & Johnson's 4th-qtr/full year 2009 sales and profit exceed expectations, but forecast disappoints

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson has posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full year 2009 sales and earnings, helped by sharply lower taxes and mainly solid growth for its range of drugs, medical devices and consumer products, although pharmaceutical revenues were lower than the previous year.

However, the firm's stock dipped1% to$62.61 after it gave 2010 guidance for full-year 2010 earnings per share of $4.85 to $4.95 per share, excluding the impact of special items, which was shy of analysts' forecasts, despite the fact that J&J is traditionally conservative in its outlook.

J&J revealed yesterday that its fourth quarter profit fell to $2.2 billion, or $0.79 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $0.97 per share, in the like year-ago period. However, profit for the quarter was down due to a whopping charge - $1.1 billion after taxes - for its largest-ever restructuring program that will eliminate up to 8,000 jobs, or nearly 7% of the work force. Excluding special items, J&J earned $1.02 per share, compared with analysts' consensus expectations of $0.97, according to Thomson Reuters.