What the heck is this? Johnson & Johnson
Even though folks didn't really expect a lot from JNJ this quarter, many still will go away grumbling. Operating income fell 1%, suggesting that that quality of the net earnings growth wasn't up to par. What's more, neither the DePuy orthopedics business nor the Cyper drug-coated stent business performed all that well this time around -- lending more ammunition to those who think that big rivals like Boston Scientific
The pharmaceutical side was also no great help, what with sales up little more than 3%. While I am beginning to think that JNJ's drug pipeline may be underestimated, what with some high-potential candidates in HIV/AIDS, arthritis, and the recent Vertex
Last and not least, there's still the lingering concern about the company overpaying for Pfizer's
To be sure, this is an important point in JNJ's corporate life cycle. Does it settle into growing more or less in step with the world economy, or does it sniff out new avenues of growth that will let it achieve the sort of performance that long-term investors have come to expect? We won't know until we know, but for now I'm going to vote "yes" and hang on to my shares.
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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson owns shares of Johnson & Johnson, but has no financial interest in any other stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares). The Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.