Johnson & Johnson Q1 2019 earnings
Johnson and Johnson's growing legal costs ate in the first quarter result, which fell 14% as it fights thousands of lawsuits over its talc baby powder.
Nevertheless, earnings were better than expected, the company said on Tuesday and the shares rose 2.15% in premarket trade. J & J reported net quarter net income on $ 3.75 billion, or $ 1.39 per share, down 14% from $ 4.37 billion, or $ 1.60 per share the year before, when adjusted J & J achieved $ 2.10 per share, above $ 2.03 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
J & J's legal expenses have mushroomed in recent months as it defends itself in thousands of lawsuits accusing the company's talc baby powder to cause cancer. $ 423 million in litigation expenses in the first quarter, on top of $ 1[ads1].29 billion in fourth quarter costs in the first quarter of 2018 rounded to zero.
Barely budget sales, rising to $ 20.02 billion from $ 20.01 billion over The first three months of last year, analysts expected a decline to $ $ 19.61 billion
More than half of the revenue came from prescription drug sales, which rose to $ 10.24 billion from $ 9.84 billion in the quarter. Analysts expect revenues of $ 9.83 billion, according to estimates prepared by StreetAccount.
The company reduced its full-year profit forecast to a range of $ 8.53 to $ 8.63 per share from its previous estimate of $ 8.50 to $ 8.65. It did not change its expected sales of $ 80.4 billion to $ 81.2 billion in 2019.
Sales of prescription drugs contributed to increased earnings, despite new generic drug competition against their Zytiga prostate cancer use.
Last year, Zytiga lost its patent protection, and revenue for the first three months fell 19.6% to $ 679 million from $ 845 million the year before. Anti-inflammatory drug Remicade sales also fell to $ 1.1 billion from $ 1.39 billion from the same period last year.
Two medications stood to increase J & J's results with better than expected sales. Anti-inflammatory treatment The Stelara turnover increased to $ 1.41 billion from $ 1.06 billion, exceeding the $ 1.36 billion estimate. Multiple myeloma drug Darzalex increased to $ 629 million from $ 432 at the same time last year. Analysts had expected $ 627.7 million.
Consumer sales, which include Aveeno lotion and over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol, doubled to $ 3.32 billion from $ 3.4 billion in the same period last year. They dropped out of StreetAccount estimates at $ 3,441 billion. Sales of medical equipment fell to $ 6.46 billion from $ 6.77 billion in the previous year, even though they came in better than expected by $ 6.34 billion analysts.
A report from Reuters in December claimed that J & J knew for decades that talc baby powder contained asbestos, refueling the company's usually stable stock. J & J has repeatedly denied any falsification and is behind their namesake powder.
Concerns threaten J & J's namesake for baby care, which J & J launched in the spring. In the first quarter, care income fell to $ 394 million from $ 457 million in the same period last year.
