Biosimilars might haunt Johnson & Johnson in Q3 as well

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) third-quarter earnings results are due on Tuesday before the bell. While the constant threat from biosimilars looms over the company, Johnson and Johnson will be looking at growth in Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices businesses to drive the stock rally.

Analysts, on an average, expect the company to report earnings of $2.03 per share on revenue of $20.05 billion for the third quarter. During the year-over quarter, Johnson & Johnson reported a profit of $1.90 per share on revenue of $19.65 billion. A majority of the analysts recommend a “strong buy” or “buy” rating with a price target of $144.32.

Investors will be keenly watching sales figures from oncology drugs section, including blood cancer drug Imbruvica, anti-cancer drug Darzalex, and prostate cancer medication Zytiga to drive the bottom line.

Baby care products will probably continue to see a decline with competitive pressure overshadowing in the near-term. However, some of this decline would be offset by growth in beauty products such as Neutrogena and Aveeno brands.

Related: Johnson & Johnson Q2 2018 Earnings Call Transcript

Market watchers predict that sales of Diabetes Care products will decrease during the quarter as LifeScan was sold for $2.1 billion to Platinum Equity. The decline is likely to overpower the growths from Vision Care and Surgery revenue.

Overall, the Medical Devices segment is projected to show marginal growth for the third quarter as cardiovascular and ophthalmology units sales growth will be offset by weakness in the Diabetes care sales.

The purchase of Actelion is likely to benefit the company’s pharmaceuticals segment, which is already enjoying the continued ramp up in oncology drugs sales, for the full year 2018. Meanwhile, market watchers expect Johnson & Johnson to update its guidance for the fiscal year 2018 as well as raise its dividend.

The company expects the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices segments to continue to outperform in 2018 as well, thanks to a diversified portfolio of products including, Xarelto, Darzalex, Imbruvica, and Stelara. This quarter will measure the success of psoriasis drug Tremfya.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson opened higher and remained in the positive territory on Monday. The stock has fallen over 4% in the year so far and over 1% during the past year.

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