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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

J&J beats forecasts, helped by hepatitis drug, (NASDAQ: GILD), (NYSE: JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson reported strong quarterly earnings on surging sales of a new treatment for hepatitis C, but the company said it had sharply reduced prices for its artificial hips and warned that profits could be hurt next year by the stronger dollar.Sales of the J&J drug, called Olysio and approved in November, reached $796 million in the third quarter. As with other hepatitis C drugs that began with rapid ascents, however, its commercial success is expected to be short-lived.Morningstar analyst Damien Conover predicted 2015 sales of Olysio will plunge more than 50 percent due to the approval on Friday of a new pill called Harvoni from Gilead Sciences Inc that can rid patients of the liver-destroying viral infection within as little as 8 weeks.Conover said strong quarterly sales of other relatively new J&J drugs, including its Zytiga treatment for prostate cancer and blood clot preventer Xarelto, bode well for J&J and the drug industry over the long term.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead) is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines. Shares of GILD fell by 2.34% or $-2.375/share to $99.06. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $61.81 and as high as $110.64. On average, 13929100 shares of GILD exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 16143132.

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a broad range of products in the health care field. Shares of JNJ fell by 0.51% or $-0.501/share to $98.62. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $86.09 and as high as $108.77. On average, 6714730 shares of JNJ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 12819682.



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