Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) closed at $153.30 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.43% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.17% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.6%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.67%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's biggest maker of health care products had lost 2.13% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 0.23% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Johnson & Johnson as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 18, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Johnson & Johnson to post earnings of $2.51 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 5.99%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $23.59 billion, up 0.68% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.50 per share and revenue of $97.73 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.45% and +2.94%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Johnson & Johnson. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Johnson & Johnson is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Johnson & Johnson's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 14.53. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.02.

We can also see that JNJ currently has a PEG ratio of 2.63. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.62 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow JNJ in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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