JNJ ‘was never dependent on COVID vaccine’ for success: CFO Wolk

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is trending up this morning after reporting solid results for its third financial quarter.

JNJ stock up on improved outlook

The stock is being rewarded also because the management raised its guidance for the full year on Tuesday.

Johnson & Johnson is now calling for $10.07 to $10.13 of adjusted per-share earnings for fiscal 2023. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Joseph Wolk – its Chief Financial Officer said:

The quarter was strong. We’re even more encouraged about the future. We’ve got great data readouts happening as early as this week at the European Society for Medical Oncology.

The finance chief also confirmed that he would have raised the guidance further if it wasn’t for currency headwinds. JNJ shares are down over 10% for the year at writing.

Johnson & Johnson recently separated Kenvue

The earnings release arrives only a couple months after Johnson & Johnson separated its consumer health business that now trades on the New York Stock Exchange as Kenvue. That separation raised $13.2 billion for the multinational in cash proceeds.

Note that JNJ still has a 9.5% stake in Kenvue. According to CFO Wolk:

It’s a good investment. It provides us flexibility to raise cash, lean into our capital allocation priorities, doing a deal, or simply raising the dividend as we have for 61 consecutive years.

Johnson & Johnson currently pays a dividend yield of 3.01%. Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on this pharmaceutical and medtech stock.

$JNJ Johnson & Johnson beat on top and bottom line with Q3 Medical Device organic growth +10% YoY led by Interventional Solutions (cardiology programs) that beat expectations for 2nd consecutive quarter. Not too shabby considering overblown market concerns about GLP-1 threat. pic.twitter.com/4Q7ylPAG7m

— JaguarAnalytics (@JaguarAnalytics) October 17, 2023

Notable figures in JNJ Q3 earnings release

• Earned $4.309 billion versus the year-ago $4.310 billion
• Per-share earnings climbed from $1.62 to $1.69
• Adjusted EPS printed at $2.66 as per the press release
• Sales jumped 6.8% year-on-year to $21.35 billion
• Consensus was $2.52 a share on $21.036 billion sales

JNJ said both innovative medicine and medtech segments contributed to strength in the recently concluded quarter.  The former was up 5.1% while the latter popped 10% in Q3.

CFO Wolk agreed that COVID vaccine sales were minimal at this point but said:

Our financial performance and success was never dependent on the COVID-19 vaccine. We are very well-positioned not just for the balance of this year but into 2024 and beyond.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/2rLmcfROkok?feature=oembed

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