I will grudgingly admit that I'm a bit greedy when it comes to health-care giant Johnson &Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). Sure, the cash flow is great, but would it be too much to ask for a little more revenue and earnings growth as well? After all, improving internal profitability and cash efficiency can only get you so far; sooner or later, revenue growth tells the tale.
Speaking of which, J&J saw revenue fall a bit more than 1% in the quarter. That was actually the blended result of a slight improvement in operational performance and a nearly 2% negative currency impact. Just for the sake of convenience, all revenue numbers that I discuss today will be the "after currency" reported numbers.
In the major business lines, consumer revenue was up 2%, and devices were up nearly 4%, but pharma was down 6% -- a result more or less par for the course lately. Remicade was the only major pharmaceutical to post double-digit growth (up 16% to $692 million), and other high-profile businesses like Cordis (cardiology), DePuy (orthopedics), and Lifescan (diabetes) were up 10%, 3%, and 3% respectively.
I realize it's tough to accelerate a giant ship like J&J, but I still believe that's what needs to happen. The company has some decent drugs in the pipeline -- including compounds for psoriasis, pain, infections, and cancer, as well as the Risperdal follow-up Paliperidone -- but this area could use some more polishing.
The same goes for medical devices. While I believe Boston Scientific's (NYSE:BSX) latest offer for Guidant (NYSE:GDT) has pushed the price beyond a reasonable level, I do believe that J&J should look at the likes of St. Jude (NYSE:STJ) and perhaps some smaller medical-tech companies with promising products that address large markets.
Here in the pre-market hours, it looks like the stock is going to trade down today. And I'm OK with that. I frankly don't own quite as much J&J as I'd like to, and I'm more than happy to buy shares from those who want to sell in the wake of this report (after the ten-day blackout period that our trading rules require, of course). J&J isn't a perfect story, but I still believe that investors who buy today and hold for a while will be happy they did.
For more medical technology missives:
- See J&J's latest quarter by the numbers.
- High-Stakes Medical Device Chicken
- A Busy Day for St. Jude
- Boston's Stunts With Stents
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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 a disclosure policy.
