J&J’s revenues outweigh estimates for strong cancer drug sales

Johnson & Johnson’s first-quarter earnings and profits estimated on Tuesday were driven by strong cancer sales and provided the first forecast to illustrate the trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The healthcare conglomerate increased its 2025 sales forecast by $700 million to reflect the increase in schizophrenia drugs added to its portfolio, but maintained its profit estimates to reflect the effects of tariffs and dilutions, diluted from a $14.6 billion deal to buy neurologic drugs inside the cellular manufacturer.

J&J is the first major healthcare company since the Trump administration proposed its major responsibilities to trading partners, including China, which is a major source of raw ingredients and supplies for the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries.
The White House is also investigating part of drug imports, part of which to impose tariffs on the department, citing medical production that is a national security threat to foreign-made medical production.

J&J is expected to earn $10.50 to $10.70 per share on adjusted earnings, including 25 cents diluted from intracellular trading.

Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk said in an interview that the profit outlook is expected to generate about $400 million due to tariffs on the company’s medical equipment business in the second quarter. He said the estimate reflects the impact of tariffs that have been reached, including tariffs from China, Mexico and Canada, even as the Trump administration has suspended a 90-day pause. $153 in J&J shares’ pre-sale deal fell 1%. The stock has risen 6.7% so far this year as the stock is protected from much of the market pathways earlier this month, when drugs were exempted from the first round of mutual tariff exemptions. This year, the S&P Healthcare Index has a broader revenue of about 1%.

According to LSEG data, J&J reported quarterly sales of $21.89 billion, up 2.4% from the same period last year, higher than analysts’ expectations of $21.56 billion.

According to the adjustment, the company’s revenue per share for the quarter was $2.77, which pushed analysts’ estimates by 18 cents.

At least three analysts say the beat of the quarter is driven by the company’s outstanding performance in the pharmaceutical business.

Guggenheim analyst Vamil Divan said investors will focus more on the impact of tariffs and other macro factors on J&J and their peers, with less impact on the company’s personal growth drivers.

The company now expects sales of $91.6 billion to $92.4 billion in 2025, from a previous forecast of $90.9 billion to $91.7 billion.

The company’s pharmaceutical business grew 2.3% quarterly sales to $13.87 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of $13.43 billion, while medical device revenue rose 2.5% in the previous year, but below Wall Street’s estimate of $8.17 billion.

Volker said the company still expects to point out in its January forecast that its equipment business will perform better in the second half of the year.

The support rate of drug revenue increased by 20%. Compared with analysts’ estimates of $3.05 billion, the first-quarter sales of hematocan therapy started in 2015 were $3.24 billion.

Stelara, a large psoriasis treatment facing competition for biosimilars, fell more than 33% in the quarter to $1.63 billion, but is estimated to be more than $1.42 billion.

The close copy of Stelara was launched in Europe, Canada and a number of other markets and has been sold in the U.S. this year.