April 19, 2022 – According to a report by CNBC, Johnson & Johnson lowered its full-year sales and earnings outlook and stopped providing COVID-19 vaccine revenue guidance due to a global supply surplus and demand uncertainty.
J&J is forecasting sales of $94.8 billion to $95.8 billion, which is about $1 billion lower than the forecast from January. Additionally, J&J lowered the full year adjusted earnings per share by 25 cents to between $10.15 and $10.35.
Demand for the COVID vaccines has slowed down after 82% of U.S. population aged 5 and older has already received one vaccine dose, not even counting the fact that the J&J vaccine was used less commonly in the U.S.
J&J sold $457 million of the vaccine globally. Joe Wolk, J&J’s Chief Financial Officer said that developing nations have limited capacity in terms of refrigeration and getting shots in arms, creating a backlog of the vaccines. Wolk also explained that it’s an unusual practice to provide guidance for a specific product. He told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell, “We did it last year because we understood that Wall Street had an expectation or at least an excitement around understanding how vaccine sales might play out but it was never material.