J&J reports $100 million in vaccine sales as results top forecasts

The company, which has previously said the vaccine will be available on a not-for-profit basis until the end of the pandemic, also tightened its forecast for adjusted profit this year, showing it largely performed as previously expected.

Use of the vaccine was paused last week by U.S. regulators as they review reports of rare but serious blood clots in recipients.

The company now expects full-year adjusted profit of $9.42 to $9.57 per share, compared with its prior forecast of $9.40 to $9.60 per share, after sales in its pharmaceuticals business helped boost overall profit.

Excluding items, the company earned $2.59 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $2.34 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Sales of cancer drug Darzalex rose 45.7% to $1.37 billion and sales of Stelara, a treatment for Crohn’s disease and plaque psoriasis, rose about 18% to $2.15 billion.

Net earnings rose nearly 7% to $6.20 billion, or $2.32 per share.

Sales rose 7.9% to $22.32 billion, beating estimates of $21.98 billion.

The company also declared an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.06 per share from $1.01 per share.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)