J&J suspends sales forecast for COVID vaccine, cuts profit view

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday cut its full-year profit expectation and said it could no longer provide a forecast for sales of its COVID-19 vaccine because of demand uncertainty as well as surplus supply of other shots.

The company had earlier predicted as much as $3.5 billion in sales from the single-dose vaccine, which has fared poorly compared to rivals due to low demand in the United States and safety concerns.

The vaccine, which is sold at a "not-for-profit" price, brought in $457 million in the first quarter. Its sales last year had underperformed rival mRNA shots also due to manufacturing bottlenecks and weak global demand.

Pfizer Inc has forecast $32 billion in 2022 sales from its COVID vaccine developed with BioNTech, while Moderna has forecast $21 billion.

J&J now expects full-year adjusted profit forecast to be between $10.15 and $10.35 per share due to a stronger dollar, lower than the prior expectation of $10.40 to $10.60 per share.

Overall first-quarter sales of $23.43 billion missed Refinitiv estimates of $23.61 billion.

"The slight miss was really around the COVID-19 vaccine and quite frankly it met our internal expectations. There was just a disconnect into how the Street assumed it was going to play out over the year," Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk told CNBC.

While sales in its consumer health and medical device units beat expectations, sales of $12.87 billion from its large pharmaceuticals unit fell below estimates of $13.6 billion.

J&J warned that supply chain constraints in its consumer health unit would hit sales of its skin health and beauty products for the rest of the year.

Excluding items, J&J earned $2.67 per share, beating market expectation of $2.56 per share.

Citi analyst Joanne Wuensch said the company's earnings "raise more questions than it answers" and investors would be looking for more clarity on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and soaring inflation.