Johnson and Johnson is reporting an 89 percent drop in its fourth-quarter profits. They fell to $218 million, which sounds like a lot, until you compare that with $1.94 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.
But the adjusted numbers beat analysts’ estimates, and Johnson and Johnson stock was trading slightly higher this morning. Guidance for 2012 fell a bit short of estimates, however, Bloomberg said.
Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) owns Fort Washington-based McNeil Consumer Healthcare. The maker of Tylenol and many other over-the-counter products has been plagued by recalls and its Fort Washington plant is closed for renovations.
The situation has hurt sales, but “fourth-quarter profit in 2010 also was held down by ...charges for litigation settlements and [a] hip implant recall,” Bloomberg noted. On the plus side, the company’s pharmaceuticals revenue rose nearly 7 percent and “J&J won approvals last year for drugs including Zytiga for prostate-cancer, Edurant for HIV, Xarelto to prevent strokes and hepatitis C treatment Incivo.”
