July 16 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson halved its expectations for costs this year related to new tariffs and raised its full-year sales and profit forecast on Wednesday after a strong quarter for flagship cancer drug Darzalex and its cardiovascular devices.
Shares rose 4.6% to $162.33 in morning trading.
J&J said it now expects about $200 million in tariff-related costs this year, mainly tied to its medical devices unit, saying it had benefited from the Trump administration’s pause on China levies and other duties. It had previously pegged costs at about $400 million starting in the second quarter.
Imports from most major trading partners are currently subject to levies of at least 10%, but in recent days U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened 30% tariffs on the European Union and 50% on Brazil. Trump plans separate pharmaceutical tariffs and recently said they could be delayed, but eventually be as high as 200%.
J&J's Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk told Reuters the company was able to absorb those costs and still raise its profit outlook, although noted it was too soon to predict tariff impacts for 2026: “It’s such a fluid environment, we’ll have to wait and see.”
The drug and medical device maker beat Wall Street expectations for the second quarter, posting adjusted earnings of $2.77 per share versus analyst expectations of $2.68 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Quarterly sales stood at $23.74 billion, beating analysts' expectations of $22.84 billion.
Citing robust quarterly performance, J&J raised its 2024 sales forecast by about $2 billion and above analyst expectations of $91.5 billion, upping its range to $93.2–$93.6 billion.
J&J said it expects to earn $10.80 to $10.90 per share on an adjusted basis in 2025, compared with its previous forecast of $10.50 to $10.70 per share.
J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott said in a note that J&J’s roughly $0.25 guidance boost outpaced expectations, adding that he sees the drugmaker's core business as strong and on track for consistent 5% or more sales growth.
Excluding foreign currency impact, medtech sales jumped 6.1% to $8.54 billion, also outpacing predictions of $8.25 billion. J&J said it saw gains from new products including Varipulse and Trupulse, which are used for pulsed field ablation, as well as double digit growth for Abiomed products, specifically its Impella heart pumps.
Darzalex, a blood cancer therapy launched in 2015, brought in second-quarter sales of $3.54 billion, compared with analysts' expectations of $3.38 billion.
