(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday forecast 2021 profit above Wall Street estimates and promised data from its widely watched coronavirus vaccine trial soon, as the healthcare conglomerate races to develop a potential single-dose vaccine for COVID-19.
The company had previously signaled that it expected to deliver data on the trial before the end of January, at a time when global hopes of defeating the virus are riding on securing adequate supplies of multiple vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson, which runs a large medical device business in addition to its pharmaceuticals unit, forecast 2021 adjusted profit of between $9.40 and $9.60 per share, compared with analysts’ estimates of $8.99 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The company’s fourth-quarter profit fell 56.7% to $1.74 billion. The company reported that it had recorded litigation expenses of $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter.
J&J faces a litany of lawsuits over its marketing of opioids, its pelvic meshes and body powders.
The company’s fourth-quarter sales rose to $22.48 billion from $20.75 billion, helped by higher demand for cancer drugs.
(The story corrects to show quarterly profit fell 56.7% to $1.74 billion, not 2.7% to $14.71 billion, in paragraph 4.)
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
