Johnson & Johnson Beats Q3 Estimates as Tremfya Surges, but a Talc Charge Cuts Reported EPS to $0.09

Johnson & Johnson reported third-quarter sales of $25.4 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.59 a share on Tuesday, both ahead of Wall Street estimates, and raised its full-year 2026 guidance — even as a one-time charge for its proposed talc litigation resolution cut reported earnings to $0.09 a share.

The headline numbers beat Wall Street on both lines. Revenue of $25.4 billion was above the $25.28 billion average estimate, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters, and adjusted earnings of $2.59 a share topped expectations of $2.54 a share.

Tremfya is doing the replacing

The engine was pharmaceuticals. Innovative Medicine sales rose 7.7% in the quarter to $16.76 billion, led by immune-disease treatment Tremfya, whose sales rose 68% to $2.4 billion — well above analyst estimates of about $2.19 billion, according to Reuters.

That surge matters because it is replacing a fading blockbuster. Sales of Stelara, which faces generic competition, fell 54% to $716 million — still well above Wall Street expectations of $591 million, Reuters reported. Blood-cancer treatment Darzalex rose about 16% to $4.24 billion, short of analyst expectations of $4.4 billion.

MedTech is where the world intruded

Medical technology was the soft spot. MedTech sales rose only 2.5% to $8.6 billion, and sales outside the United States in the division were basically flat, according to Reuters.

Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk told Reuters the Middle East conflict, austerity measures in Europe and pricing in China weighed on international results, with Gulf budgets being reallocated toward defense. Sales at the Abiomed heart-pump business also remained slow after a UK study raised questions about the use of Impella pumps in certain high-risk procedures, Reuters reported.

Why reported profit was only $0.09 a share

The gap between the $2.59 adjusted figure and the $0.09 reported figure is the quarter's second story. Johnson & Johnson said reported earnings per share of $0.09 reflects a one-time special charge for the proposed talc litigation resolution, the acquisition of Firefly Bio, Inc., and the strategic collaboration with Sail Biomedicines. The adjusted figure also reflects the impact of those deals, the company said.

In other words, the operating quarter was stronger than the reported bottom line suggests — but the talc charge is a real cost of resolving a long legal overhang, not an accounting curiosity, and readers should keep the two numbers separate.

Guidance went up, not down

On the back of the quarter, Johnson & Johnson raised its 2026 guidance. The company increased estimated reported sales to $101.2 billion, or 7.4% growth at the midpoint, and increased adjusted EPS guidance by $0.06 to $11.10, or 2.9% at the midpoint. Reuters put the prior midpoints at $101.1 billion for sales and $11.04 for adjusted earnings.

The company also flagged pipeline milestones in the release, including market authorization for OTTAVA, described as the world's first table-integrated soft tissue robotic system, approval of IMAAVY in warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and priority review for RYBREVANT FASPRO in advanced head and neck cancer.

What to watch next

Johnson & Johnson shares closed at $263.73 on Monday and have risen 27% this year, outperforming the broader market and most healthcare peers, according to Reuters. The questions from here are whether Tremfya can keep outrunning the Stelara decline, whether MedTech's international softness deepens if Gulf budgets stay tilted toward defense, and what the proposed talc resolution ultimately costs when it is final.

A note on sourcing: the sales growth, the reported and adjusted EPS figures, the talc-charge explanation, and the raised guidance are Johnson & Johnson's own words in its October 13 release. Reuters' same-day wire supplies the consensus estimates, the segment and product detail, and the CFO's comments.