Johnson & Johnson beats profit forecasts, but group sales shy

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has reported financial results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2014, showing that earnings beat analysts’ expectations but sales were just shy of projections in the final quarter.

Fourth-quarter earnings were up 2.4% to $1.27 a share, excluding one-time items, beating the $1.26 average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue decreased 0.6% to $18.3 billion, compared with the $18.5 billion average projection, although prescription medicines sales increased 9.6% to $8 billion for the quarter. Net income fell 28% to $2.52 billion. Shares of J&J – the first out of the box among drugmakers to report financials - fell around 2.9% to $101.37 by around 10am EST this morning.

Worldwide sales for the full-year 2014 were $74.3 billion, an increase of 4.2% versus 2013. Net earnings and diluted earnings per share for the full-year 2014 were $16.3 billion and $5.70, respectively. Excluding these special items in both periods, net earnings for the full-year were $17.1 billion and diluted earnings per share were $5.97, representing increases of 7.7% and 8.2%, respectively, as compared with the full year of 2013.