Johnson & Johnson earnings fall but beat expectations; sales miss

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) today posted third-quarter 2015 revenue of $17.1 billion, down 7.4% compared with the like 2014 period, which missed the forecasts of six analysts surveyed by Zacks, who expected $17.41 billion.

Sales, about half of which are generated from outside the USA, were hit by the strong US dollar, and excluding foreign exchange fluctuations would have shown a 0.8% increase.

The company reported third-quarter net income of $3.36 billion, or earnings per share of $1.20, with earnings, adjusted for amortization costs and non-recurring costs, at $4.2 billion or $1.49 per share, representing decreases of 9.4% and 7.5%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2014. The results topped the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research of $1.44 per share. J&J’s shares dipped as much as 2% in pre-market trading but were barely changed (-0.8% at $95.17) by mid-morning following release of the financial results.