Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Can you tell me what you think about Johnson & Johnson? Thanks for your advice.

Article Excerpt

Johnson & Johnson, $63.65, symbol JNJ on New York (Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $171.9 billion; www.jnj.com), has three divisions: Consumer (including products for babies, skin care, oral care and wound care), Pharmaceutical (which makes anti-infective, antipsychotic, contraceptive, dermatological and gastrointestinal drugs), and Medical Devices & Diagnostics (which sells equipment for circulatory disease management and orthopedic joint reconstruction). Without one-time items, Johnson & Johnson’s earnings rose 9.3% in the three months ended January 1, 2012, to $3.1 billion, or $1.13 a share. A year earlier, it earned $2.8 billion, or $1.03 a share. Sales rose 3.9%, to $16.3 billion from $15.6 billion. The company holds cash of $32.3 billion, or $11.96 a share. Its long-term debt of $13.0 billion is 7.6% of its market cap. The company’s Consumer division is the most stable part of its business, but it is still suffering from the lingering effects of a number of product recalls. These have forced the company to take a number…