J&J profit rises, '09 profit view disappoints
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson reported higher quarterly earnings on Tuesday as cost cuts offset weak sales of its drugs, devices and consumer products amid the economic downturn, but J&J forecast 2009 earnings below expectations.
The diversified healthcare company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.71 billion, or 97 cents per share, compared with $2.37 billion, or 82 cents per share, a year earlier.
"Fourth quarter sales missed across all divisions, both international and domestic," Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise said in a research report.
Another U.S. drugmaker, Forest Laboratories Inc , posted a 38 percent decline in quarterly profit Tuesday on charges for licensing new medicines, but shares rose because operating results far exceeded analyst targets thanks to lower-than-expected spending.
Excluding special items, J&J earned 94 cents per share. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, on average, expected 92 cents per share.
J&J expects full-year 2009 earnings of $4.45 to $4.55, excluding items but including expected dilution of 3 cents to 5 cents per share from J&J's purchase of medical device company Mentor Corp.
On that basis, analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, on average, were expecting $4.58 per share.
Global quarterly sales fell 4.9 percent to $15.2 billion, well below the Reuters Estimates forecast of $15.9 billion. Sales would have fallen only 1 percent if not for the strengthening dollar, which lowers overseas sales when converted back into U.S. currency.
Even as the stronger dollar hurt overseas sales, Leerink's Wise said a number of important brands continue to lose U.S. market share, including arthritis drug Remicade, epilepsy treatment Topamax and J&J's Ethicon surgical products.
Global sales of prescription drugs fell 11 percent to $5.69 billion, as two thirds of revenue from J&J's Risperdal schizophrenia drug vanished due to new generic competition for the product.
Moreover, sales of Remicade -- usually a fast-growing product -- slipped 2.4 percent to $886 million. And sales of the company's anemia drugs fell 11 percent to $560 million, on continuing concerns about safety of such medicines. Topamax, an epilepsy drug which will face generic competition in March, rose 4.3 percent to $680 million.
Sales of company medical devices, which have bolstered results over the past year, declined 1.9 percent to $5.64 billion.
Consumer product sales edged up 1.2 percent in the quarter to $3.86 billion, providing a weaker lift than in recent quarters.
J&J shares slipped 24 cents to $57.20 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Forest Laboratories rose 4.8 percent to $27, also on the NYSE.
(Additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Toni Clarke; Editing by Derek Caney)