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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) closed at $153.89, marking a +0.99% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.89%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.68%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's biggest maker of health care products had lost 4.99% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 4.48%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.9%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Johnson & Johnson as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 18, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.51, down 5.99% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $23.59 billion, up 0.68% from the year-ago period.

JNJ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.50 per share and revenue of $97.73 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +3.45% and +2.94%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Johnson & Johnson. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Johnson & Johnson is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Johnson & Johnson currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.51. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.79.

We can also see that JNJ currently has a PEG ratio of 2.63. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.59 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, which puts it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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