Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Pushes Higher on Solid Results; Stock Moves Above 200 Day MA

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is seeing solid action following earnings this morning and notably shares just crossed above its 200 day moving average, an important technical indicator. Shares last traded at $99.68, up 3.4%.

Johnson & Johnson reported Q4 EPS of $1.44, $0.02 better than the analyst estimate of $1.42. Revenue for the quarter came in at $17.8 billion versus the consensus estimate of $17.88 billion. The company announced its 2016 full-year guidance for sales of $70.8 billion to $71.5 billion reflecting expected operational growth in the range of 2.5% to 3.5%. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and hepatitis C sales, operational sales growth is expected to be in the range of 4.5% to 6.0%. Additionally, the company announced adjusted earnings guidance for full-year 2016 of $6.43 to $6.58 per share reflecting expected operational growth in the range of 5.3% to 7.7%

Analyst Danielle Antalffy of Leerink Partners said the higher other income was likely largely tied to the October close of the Cordis divestiture which did add ~$0.40 to EPS relative to their estimates. This, however, was largely offset a ~$0.10 drag from FX and a ~$0.35 drag from significantly higher OpEx across both SG&A and R&D.

Drivers of the negative operating leverage in the quarter are likely to be a key question, the analyst said. However, they are more encouraged by the solid operational sales growth performance in the quarter, particularly given the just-announced restructuring initiative that should position the company for dramatically improving operating leverage from here.

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