J&J raises 2021 profit view, keeps vaccine sales outlook unchanged
Vials labelled “COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine” and sryinge are seen in entrance of displayed Johnson&Johnson brand on this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Oct 19 (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday raised its annual adjusted revenue forecast, however stored the gross sales outlook for its COVID-19 vaccine at $2.5 billion for this 12 months.
Shares rose 1.4% because the drugmaker’s third-quarter revenue beat Wall Avenue expectations and it lifted 2021 forecast for adjusted earnings per share to between $9.77 and $9.82, from its prior estimates of $9.60 to $9.70.
The drugmaker had earlier this 12 months confronted main manufacturing hurdles with the manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine resulting from high quality issues at a Baltimore manufacturing facility, leading to delays in addition to wastage of tens of millions of doses.
It additionally led the corporate to faucet down its annual manufacturing goal to 500 million to 600 million doses in comparison with the preliminary purpose of creating a billion pictures.
In the meantime, a call by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration on booster doses of the vaccine is pending.
Gross sales of its most cancers and immune illness medication helped the healthcare conglomerate report a 13.8% rise in gross sales to roughly $13 billion at its giant prescription drugs unit. The COVID-19 vaccine solely contributes a fraction to the gross sales.
Gross sales in its medical gadgets unit rose 8% to $6.64 billion within the third quarter, as a restart of hip and knee surgical procedures and different non-urgent procedures helped soften the blow from weak demand for medical gadgets utilized in sports activities and backbone procedures.
Excluding objects, J&J earned $2.60 per share, beating expectations of $2.35 per share. Nevertheless, its gross sales of $2.33 billion missed estimates of $2.37 billion.
Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Arun Koyyur
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