Johnson & Johnson tops quarterly earnings expectations

NEW YORK - The healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson reported quarterly earnings on Tuesday, with both revenue and earnings per share beating Wall Street's estimates.

The company said its sales hit $20.4 billion for the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 1.0 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

Excluding after-tax intangible amortization expense and special items, adjusted net earnings for the current quarter were $5.4 billion and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.97, representing increases of 12.5 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

For the full-year 2018, the company's worldwide sales were $81.6 billion, an increase of 6.7 percent versus 2017. Its net earnings and diluted earnings per share were $15.3 billion and $5.61, respectively.

The company is divided in three main business units: pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products. Its worldwide pharmaceutical sales reached $40.7 billion for the full-year 2018, representing an increase of 12.4 percent.

The healthcare giant also gave out its guidance for this year. It forecast 2019 earnings of between $8.50 and $8.65 per share and revenue in the range of $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion.

Shares of the company dropped 1.45 percent to close at $128.80 on Tuesday.

The company's stock price has fallen by more than 9 percent since December last year as concerns about potential product liability from contamination of its baby powder stoked a sell-off.