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Yesterday J&J released their Q4 earnings, beating estimates on the top and bottom line. J&J has been one of our most stable holdings over the years, where the share price hasn't gone up as much as we would have liked, but during tough times it doesn't drop either. The cherry on top is that they pay a healthy dividend.
The earnings' main focus is their upcoming vaccine data, which will be out by early next week. South Africa got a specific mention because of 'our' Covid variant and due to J&J doing some of their testing here. Management said early data showed a 'durable' and 'sustainable' response - that sounds positive. The Covid vaccine helps their business in two ways, the first is obviously the short term profit gain from trying to vaccinate the whole world. The second advantage is that elective surgeries will pick up again in 2021. Last year, the only division for J&J to go backwards was medical devices, which suffered due to fewer surgeries.
As a side point, bashing pharmaceutical companies on social media seems to be a popular sport. I suppose because healthcare is so personal to us and because it appears these companies make money for not doing much. Last year J&J spent $12.1 billion on R&D, a significant part of their $82 billion in revenue. It is thanks to companies like J&J that humanity keeps pushing the boundaries in healthcare.
