Piper Jaffray: JNJ Sales Tracking Slightly Below Expectations

Piper Jaffray reports that its analysis of IMS scrips through February indicate that Johnson & Johnson JNJ US pharma sales are tracking slightly below expectations.

“The company's recently launched products continue to perform well in terms of scrips and pricing, however this is more than offset by underperformance of several of the company's larger franchises, driven in part by share losses,” Piper Jaffray writes.

“We note that this first look only includes scrip trends for the first two months of the quarter and does not yet reflect hospital pharmacy sales in the quarter, nor does our preview include OUS trends in scrips or pricing. We will revisit scrip and sales trends later in the month as more data become available which may indeed tip the scales in a positive direction for the quarter.

“We remain Neutral on JNJ, and expect a degree of near-term pressure as investors assess the impact of the FDA consent decree announced last week.”

Johnson & Johnson closed Thursday at $58.13.