What Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call

Key Points

• Johnson & Johnson reported strong Q3 growth, with worldwide sales rising 6% operationally to $25.4 billion. Innovative Medicine led results, particularly oncology, immunology and neuroscience, and the company raised its full-year sales outlook to roughly $100.7 billion operationally at the midpoint.
• MedTech sales increased only 2.5% and fell short of internal expectations, pressured by international markets, Abiomed’s 1.5% decline and weakness in surgery. Management maintained its long-term outlook while highlighting growth from Shockwave, Vision and Orthopedics.
• Adjusted EPS fell 7.5% to $2.59, while GAAP earnings were heavily reduced by about $7 billion in costs tied to talc litigation, the Firefly Bio acquisition and the Sail Biomedicines collaboration. J&J generated more than $6 billion in quarterly free cash flow and said a DePuy Synthes spin-off remains its preferred separation option by mid-2027.

Johnson & Johnson NYSE: JNJ reported third-quarter 2026 worldwide sales of $25.4 billion, up 6% operationally from a year earlier, as growth in its Innovative Medicine business offset slower-than-expected performance in parts of MedTech. The company raised its full-year sales outlook and said it remains on track to exceed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time in its history.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joaquin Duato said the company’s third-quarter growth accelerated sequentially from the second quarter and exceeded analyst consensus. U.S. sales rose 9.1% operationally, while sales outside the U.S. increased 1.8%.

Johnson & Johnson reported GAAP net earnings of $210 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared with $2.12 per share a year earlier. Results included approximately $7 billion in costs related to the proposed talc litigation resolution, the Firefly Bio acquisition and the Sail Biomedicines collaboration. Adjusted net earnings were $6.3 billion, or $2.59 per share, down 7.5% from the prior-year period.

Innovative Medicine Drives Growth

Innovative Medicine sales rose 7.9% operationally to $16.8 billion, including 11.1% growth in the U.S. Oncology grew about 17%, supported by multiple myeloma treatments and lung cancer medicines.

DARZALEX sales grew 15.6%, driven by share gains across treatment lines and continued market expansion, while CARVYKTI rose 35.2% as use expanded in earlier treatment settings and additional sites began offering the therapy. TECVAYLI sales increased 77.3%, helped by uptake following the U.S. approval of TECVAYLI plus DARZALEX FASPRO. TALVEY grew 42.1%.

RYBREVANT plus LAZCLUZE sales rose 63.5%, aided by uptake across regions and demand for RYBREVANT FASPRO. Johnson & Johnson expects a U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision on RYBREVANT FASPRO for advanced head and neck cancer by year-end.

The company also highlighted the early performance of INLEXZO, its bladder cancer treatment. Tom Cavanaugh, worldwide chairman of Innovative Medicine, said year-to-date net trade sales were nearly $200 million, with third-quarter sales exceeding $90 million. New patient inserts rose 45% sequentially, and the treatment reached nearly one in three eligible patients in its current high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer population.

In immunology, TREMFYA sales increased 68.2%, driven by its inflammatory bowel disease launch and share gains in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. By contrast, STELARA sales declined 54% amid biosimilar competition and a shift toward newer treatment classes.

Johnson & Johnson said ICOTYDE, its oral plaque psoriasis treatment, had been initiated by more than 20,000 patients through nearly 9,000 prescribers since its U.S. launch. Cavanaugh said about 60% of early patients were new to systemic therapy, while the remainder came from oral and other treatments, including biologics. The company did not disclose ICOTYDE quarterly sales.

In neuroscience, CAPLYTA reached $1 billion in year-to-date sales and grew 66.1% during the quarter, supported by demand as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder. SPRAVATO sales rose 36% as physician adoption and patient demand increased in treatment-resistant depression.

MedTech Misses Internal Expectations

MedTech sales rose 2.5% operationally to $8.6 billion, with U.S. growth of 4.8% and growth of 0.1% outside the U.S. Duato said the segment fell short of expectations, though management maintained its long-term outlook.

Tim Schmid, worldwide chairman of MedTech, said pressure was concentrated in international markets and in the Abiomed heart-recovery business. He cited surgery-related transformation efforts and volume-based procurement in China, competitive pressure in electrophysiology in Asia-Pacific, and disruptions to ordering patterns and tender timing in the Middle East.

Cardiovascular sales grew 4.1%. Shockwave sales increased 17.2%, driven by adoption of coronary and peripheral products, product launches and U.S. reimbursement in office-based labs. Electrophysiology grew 4.4%, though competitive pulsed field ablation pressure and prior-year international inventory dynamics tempered results.

Abiomed sales declined 1.5% due to lower patient volume. Schmid said physician selectivity related to a high-risk PCI study remained a temporary headwind, adding that the company was focused on physician education and expanding clinical evidence. Johnson & Johnson expects results from the 1,252-patient HRPCI PROTECT IV study in 2027.

Surgery sales declined 1%, while Vision grew 5.1% and Orthopedics increased 3.4%. The company received FDA De Novo authorization in July for OTTAVA, its table-integrated soft-tissue robotic system. Management said adoption and revenue contribution from OTTAVA will build over time.

Guidance Raised, Capital Priorities Updated

Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk said Johnson & Johnson raised and tightened its full-year operational sales-growth guidance to a range of 6.7% to 7.1%. At the midpoint, the company expects operational sales of $100.7 billion. Reported sales are expected to reach $101.2 billion at the midpoint, assuming average foreign-exchange rates for the year.

The company now expects adjusted operational earnings per share of $10.95 to $11.05. Reported adjusted EPS is projected at $11.05 to $11.15, representing 2.9% growth at the midpoint. Wolk said that excluding the $0.64 per-share impact of the Firefly Bio and Sail Biomedicines transactions, reported EPS growth would approach 9%.

Johnson & Johnson ended the quarter with about $17 billion in cash and marketable securities and $45 billion in debt, for net debt of approximately $28 billion. It generated more than $6 billion in third-quarter free cash flow and reiterated its full-year free-cash-flow outlook of about $21 billion.

The company completed its $1 billion acquisition of Firefly Bio during the quarter and entered a collaboration with Sail Biomedicines focused on in vivo CAR-T therapies for immune-mediated diseases. It also recorded a $5.5 billion proposed resolution for ovarian talc litigation, contingent on participation by at least 95% of remaining ovarian claims. Wolk said the company was trending toward meeting that threshold.

Looking ahead, management said its goal of reaching double-digit growth by the end of the decade is based on internal strategic investments rather than assumed acquisitions. The company also said it is leaning toward a spin-off as the preferred option for separating DePuy Synthes by mid-2027, while noting that no final decision has been announced.

About Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson NYSE: JNJ is a global healthcare company that develops, manufactures and markets products through two primary business segments: Innovative Medicine and MedTech. Its operations serve patients, healthcare professionals and consumers in markets around the world.

The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on prescription medicines in areas including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, infectious diseases, and pulmonary hypertension.

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