Johnson & Johnson 4th-qtr beats expectations

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) kicked off the fourth-quarter 2015 financial results reporting season for the sector, beating analysts’ expectations despite posting lower sales, and pushing its shares up 2.8% to $99.14 in mid-morning trading.

J&J said net income was $3.2 billion, or $1.15 per share, up 26.5% from $2.53 billion, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier. Adjusted net income was $4.04 billion, or $1.44 per share, beating Wall Street expectations for adjusted earnings of $1.42 per share, based on estimates of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

However, group revenue fell 2.4% to $17.81 billion, impacted by unfavorable currency rates and below analysts’ expectations of $17.94 billion. Sales of prescription drugs edged 0.8% higher to $8.06 billion, while sales of consumer health products fell 7.9% to $3.32 billion. Sales of medical devices and diagnostic equipment fell 3.3% to $6.43 billion.