Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) topped earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of 2019 while revenues fell short of expectations. The shares were down 1.5% in premarket hours on Wednesday.
Total revenue of $20.7 billion inched up 1.7% from the same period last year, but came slightly below consensus forecasts of $20.8 billion. Adjusted operational sales, which excludes impacts from acquisitions, divestitures and currency translations, increased 3.4%.
GAAP net income grew 31.8% to $4 billion and EPS improved around 34% to $1.50. Adjusted net income fell 6.4% year-over-year to $5 billion. Adjusted EPS dropped 4.6% to $1.88 but beat estimates of $1.87.
Alex Gorsky, Chairman and CEO stated, “We delivered strong underlying sales and earnings growth in 2019, driven by the strength of our Pharmaceutical business, accelerating performance in our Medical Devices business and improved profitability in our Consumer business.”
Sales in the US increased 1.4% to $10.7 billion while international sales rose 2.1% to $9.9 billion. The Consumer and Pharmaceutical segments saw sales increases of 0.9% and 3.5% respectively, while sales in the Medical Devices segment was down 0.5%.
For the full year of 2020, the company expects reported sales to grow 4-5% to $85.4 billion to $86.2 billion. Operational sales are expected to grow 4.5-5.5% to $85.8-$86.6 billion. Adjusted operational sales are expected to grow 5-6%.
Adjusted EPS is expected to increase 3.1-4.8% to a range of $8.95-9.10 and adjusted operational EPS is expected to rise 3.7-5.4% to a range of $9.00-9.15.
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