Why Johnson & Johnson Stock Was a Winner on Wednesday

A double beat in its latest quarter made Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) stock a popular item on Wednesday. The encouraging (if not spectacular) results pushed the storied healthcare company's share price up by almost 4%, which contrasted positively with the 1.4% slide of the S&P 500 index on the day.

Solid growth, particularly in the No. 1 category

Johnson & Johnson revealed that its second-quarter sales came in at slightly over $22.4 billion, representing a more than 4% improvement on a year-over-year basis. The healthcare giant's non- GAAP (adjusted) net income also rose, although less steeply, by almost 2% to $6.8 billion ($2.82 per share).

Both results topped the average-analyst expectations. Collectively, prognosticators tracking Johnson & Johnson stock were modeling a bit over $22.3 billion on the top line, filtering down into an adjusted net-income figure of $2.72 per share.

Breaking down its sales, Johnson & Johnson said that its innovative medicine -- i.e., pharmaceutical -- category rose by 5.5% to reach nearly $14.5 billion for the quarter. The company said this was driven by products such as its cancer drugs Darzalex and Erleada, among other cancer drugs, and plaque psoriasis medicine Tremfya.

The distant second-product category, medtech, inched up by 2% year over year during the quarter to hit just under $8 billion in sales.

Guidance adjusted

Johnson & Johnson updated its full-year guidance, predicting that it will book $88 billion to $88.4 billion in sales and adjusted-net income of $9.97 to $10.07 per share. The average-analyst estimate for the latter is $10.01.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .