J&J Weathers Stent Duel

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Despite the impact of new competition from Boston Scientific's (NYSE: BSX) Taxus drug-eluting stent, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) managed to deliver yet another strong quarter today.

For the second quarter, J&J's earnings -- excluding the impact of one-time charges on last year's quarter -- grew 17.1% to $0.82 per share, or $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, sales climbed 11.1% to $11.5 billion, with a positive currency impact of 2.6%.

Leading the way, the medical device and diagnostics business grew sales 11.8% to $4.1 billion, with international sales increasing 17% to $2 billion. The company cited strong growth from LifeScan's blood glucose monitoring products and Vistakon's disposable contact lenses, among others.

Also, the Cordis unit's Cypher drug-coated stent provided a positive boost in year-over-year comparisons, despite a rough hit compared with the first quarter. As we have noted, Boston Scientifc's Taxus stent has dominated the domestic stent market since its introduction on March 8. J&J had temporarily owned the market; it claimed only 30% of the U.S. market during the second quarter.

In other areas, J&J's pharmaceutical sales experienced worldwide growth of 11.1% to $5.4 billion, led by strong performances from Remicade for rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, the antiepileptic drug Topamax, and Duragesic, a transdermal patch for chronic pain. However, sales of anemia treatments Procrit and Eprex were hurt by competition.

The worldwide consumer segment also posted a healthy 10% growth in sales to $2 billion, driven by strong sales of McNeil Nutritional's Splenda sweetener, as well as skin-care products from the likes of Neutrogena and RoC.

On March 15, Mathew Emmert -- the Fool behind the Motley Fool Income Investor -- made his case for Johnson & Johnson's stock. It's a worthwhile read, and the company's business performance in the second quarter hasn't disappointed (and neither has the stock, for that matter, appreciating about 10% since then).

But as Alyce Lomax pointed out this time last quarter, the competition in J&J's stent business is an increasing point of interest.

For more, check out the following articles:

• Boston Scientific's Stent Gold Mine, by W.D. Crotty
• Stent Wars Going Strong, by Seth Jayson
• J&J, Guidant Join Forces, by Alyce Lomax

Take a no-obligation free trial of Motley Fool Income Investor today.

Fool contributor Jeff Hwang owns none of the companies mentioned above.