Johnson & Johnson earnings top expectations

Getty Images. Goldman Sachs lowers its rating for Johnson & Johnson to sell from neutral.·CNBC
Fred Imbert
Updated
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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) delivered quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations on Tuesday, but revenue was light.

Shares of J&J edged lower in premarket trading following the announcement. (Get the latest quote here.) (NYSE: JNJ)

The diversified health care giant posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.49 per share, down from $1.50 a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue fell to $17.1 billion from $18.47 billion a year ago.

Analysts expected the company to post earnings per share of $1.45 on revenue of $17.45 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.

J&J also forecast full-year adjusted earnings of $6.15 a share to $6.20 a share.

Earlier Tuesday, the drugmaker said it would buy back up to $10 billion of common stock.

The company said on Tuesday it had about 2.77 billion shares of common stock outstanding as of Sept. 27.

On Friday , J&J said it has begun clinical trials for an Ebola vaccine in Sierra Leone as part of a new study being conducted in the nation's Kambia district, the site of some of the most recent cases.

J&J's stock has lagged in the last year when compared to its rival Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), having fallen more than 5 percent in that time, while Pfizer shares have risen more than 13 percent, according to FactSet data.

—Reuters contributed to this report.



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