Johnson & Johnson is up about 0.2 percent today and has been drifting slowly higher over the past week. We think this is mostly ordinary movement in line with the broader market since there is no new company news.
Our view
The company is proving it can grow its medicine and surgical tool businesses even as older drugs lose their patent protection. If you have been thinking about buying it, this is a fair price to pay for a high-quality healthcare leader.
CEO Joaquin Duato sells about 11 million dollars in stock
Chief Executive Joaquin Duato sold about 10.8 million dollars worth of shares. While large sales from the top leader can sometimes worry onlookers, they are often planned well in advance for personal financial reasons rather than a change in how they view the company's future.
Duato remains the Chairman and CEO, and this sale represents only a part of his total stake. Unless it is followed by more selling from other top leaders, this looks like a routine personal transaction rather than a warning sign about the business.
Analyst price updatePositive
Aug 6
Guggenheim raises its price target to $287
Guggenheim raised its price target for Johnson & Johnson to $287 from $270. This new target is slightly higher than the average analyst target of $282. While a single analyst raising a target is routine, it signals continued confidence in the company's shift toward higher-margin medicines and medical devices. The stock is currently trading around $256, and this update suggests the firm sees room for the price to grow as the company moves past its recent business split.
Jennifer Taubert to retire as head of Innovative Medicine
Jennifer Taubert is retiring from her role as head of the Innovative Medicine division, which brought in more than 60 billion dollars in revenue last year. Tom Cavanaugh will take over the position in September.
This is a significant leadership change because this division is the company's primary engine for growth. It is responsible for developing the new cancer and immunology drugs needed to replace revenue from older products that are losing their patent protection.
Wells Fargo raised its price target from $272 to $282. This suggests the firm sees about 9 percent more room for the stock to rise from its current price. The move follows a period of heavy news for the company, including a major legal settlement and progress in its surgical robotics business.
FDA grants priority review for new head and neck cancer treatment
The FDA has granted priority review for Rybrevant Faspro, a treatment for a specific type of advanced head and neck cancer. This designation is given to drugs that could offer major improvements in treatment, shortening the FDA's review time from ten months to six.
This is a key win for the oncology pipeline. The treatment targets two specific drivers of tumor growth and has shown a 42 percent response rate in trials, which is significant for a cancer where the five-year survival rate is currently only about 15 percent.
Analysts have recently issued a flurry of price target increases for Johnson & Johnson. Most analysts are positive, with 21 of 40 rating the stock a buy, and the average target of $282 suggests a 9% gain from current prices.
Average target$282.08+9%vs $259.88 today
TodayAvg price
Low $255High $305
Buy40 analysts
3Bearish
16Neutral
21Bullish
FirmRatingPrice TargetDate
Guggenheim
Buy
$270→$287
8/6/2026
Raymond James
Outperform
$280
8/3/2026
Wells Fargo
Overweight
$272→$282
8/3/2026
Argus Research
—
$290→$300
7/29/2026
Johnson Rice
Buy
$280
7/16/2026
Scotiabank
Sector Outperform
$265→$305
7/16/2026
Raymond James
Outperform
$258→$265
7/16/2026
Johnson Rice
—
$261
7/16/2026
Goldman Sachs
Buy
$275→$282
7/16/2026
Morgan Stanley
Overweight
$284→$294
7/16/2026
Wells Fargo
Overweight
$263→$272
7/16/2026
Stifel Nicolaus
Hold
$250→$260
7/15/2026
Johnson & Johnson earnings
Management has a perfect track record of clearing its own bars, beating its profit targets for eight straight quarters. This suggests the company is conservative with its forecasts and executes reliably.
Earnings history
EstimateBeatMiss
Johnson & Johnson past earnings results
Expected
Actual
Surprise
EPS
$2.84
$2.90
+2.1%
Revenue
$25.06B
$25.31B
+1.0%
Key highlights
Revenue and profit outlook raised: Management increased the full year 2026 forecast for adjusted profit to a midpoint of $11.68 per share, which represents 8.2% growth compared to last year. This raise is supported by a new annual sales target of $101.1 billion at the midpoint, signaling confidence that the company will hit its goal of surpassing $100 billion in revenue for the first time in its history.
Innovative medicine sales accelerating: Sales in the medicine division grew 7.8% to $16.38 billion, led by strong demand for cancer treatments like DARZALEX and CARVYKTI. This performance was strong enough to overcome a heavy 7.6% drag from STELARA, a top selling drug that is now facing competition from lower priced versions.
MedTech growth slowing: The medical technology division grew 4.5% to $8.93 billion, which is a slower pace than the 6.6% growth seen in the overall company. While cardiovascular products and new acquisitions like Shockwave helped drive results, this segment is growing at roughly half the rate of the medicines business.
Strong cash generation: Free cash flow, which is the cash a company has left after paying for its operations and equipment, jumped to $8.7 billion for the first half of the year. This is a significant increase from the $6.2 billion generated during the same period last year, providing more flexibility for the company to fund new acquisitions or pay dividends.
Pipeline reaching major milestones: The company secured several key regulatory wins this quarter, including a new approval for its arthritis drug TREMFYA and a schizophrenia treatment called CAPLYTA. Expanding the uses for existing drugs is a primary way the company keeps its revenue growing as older patents eventually expire.
Our take: A very strong quarter for the healthcare giant, highlighted by a rare mid year raise to its full year profit and sales targets. The medicine division is doing the heavy lifting, growing fast enough to easily offset the loss of patent protection on its biggest drug. It was a clean result that reinforces the company's steady path toward record annual revenue.
Johnson & Johnson’s next earnings date
Q3 2026
OCT
13
Expectation
EPS
$2.95
Revenue
$25.32B
AUG
25
Dividend payday
Own the stock before this date to get the next dividend payment.
Metrics we are tracking
Metric
Expectations
Status
Innovative Medicine Growth
Operational growth staying above 6% annually
6.8% operational in Q2 2026
MedTech Operational Growth
Growth sustained between 5% and 7%
3.6% operational in Q2 2026
Adjusted EPS Growth
Mid-to-high single digit growth annually
8.2% guided for FY2026
FCF Conversion
Free cash flow tracking at 80% of net income
$8.7B FCF on $5.5B NI in Q2 2026
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