J&J profit falls but beats forecasts

By Ransdell Pierson and Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) posted a 5 percent drop in second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, but profit and revenue beat analysts' forecasts thanks to surprisingly resilient pharmaceutical and consumer product sales.

Revenue took a hit from patent expirations on its drugs for schizophrenia and epilepsy, but sales of its blockbuster arthritis drug Remicade were better than expected. Analysts also cited the ability of the giant diversified healthcare company, shares of which rose slightly, to contain costs.

"They went through a cost-cutting exercise about a year and a half ago, and it's definitely helping them with their earnings to date," said Jan Wald, an analyst with Noble Financial Group. "The surprise is more on the revenue side ... and that bodes well."

The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company, which makes products ranging from Band-Aids to complex biotechnology medicines, earned $3.21 billion, or $1.15 per share for the second quarter. That compares with $3.37 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the year-earlier period.

Analysts on average had expected $1.11 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

J&J's quarterly revenue fell 7.4 percent to $15.24 billion, but was $190 million higher than analysts had expected.

Revenue would have been 6 percentage points higher if not for the stronger dollar, which hurts the value of overseas sales. Some analysts had expected a worse toll from currency.

"All in all it looks like a positive quarter, especially considering the economic environment," said Damien Conover, an analyst at Morningstar.

The company reaffirmed its full-year profit forecast of $4.45 per share to $4.55 per share, excluding special items, which would be little changed from last year.

Sales of prescription drugs fell 13.3 percent to $5.5 billion, as patients opted for cheaper generic forms of J&J's Risperdal schizophrenia treatment and Topamax, an epilepsy pill that lost U.S. patent protection in recent months.

Topamax sales plunged 73 percent to $182 million, while Risperdal's fell 66 percent to $239 million.

Even so, analysts had been girding for an even bigger decline in the pharmaceuticals business amid the erosion of Risperdal and Topamax sales.

"It appears they underestimated how well other pharmaceutical products were doing," J&J Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso said in an interview.

Caruso cited demand for Remicade, sales of which jumped 24 percent to $1.1 billion, and cancer treatment Velcade, sales of which rose 12 percent to $229 million.

"The pharmaceutical business looked especially strong to us," said Noble's Wald, who noted that declines for Procrit and Eprex -- anemia drugs strapped with safety concerns -- were not as bad as feared.