By
Tolu Ajiboye
April 8th, 2024
According to Jim Cramer, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine candidate will help the public overcome fears of going out and spending money on entertainment. Meanwhile, JNJ stock went 1% up yesterday.
There are currently a lot of companies involved in the development of the coronavirus vaccine. As the WHO has stated, there are 70 vaccines under development. Some of them have already made great progress, while others are at the very beginning of the race. CNBC’s “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer believes that among all the vaccine candidates, the COVID-19 vaccine offered by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has the highest chances to succeed. Besides, Cramer has recommended some stocks that seem to be compelling.
Cramer said:
“I came away convinced that they have something compelling up their sleeves. Something that will make you wish you owned a travel and leisure stock.”
As the host has explained, Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine candidate will help the public overcome fears of going out and spending money on entertainment. Therefore, such stocks as the Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), Visa Inc (NYSE: V), and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) are worth buying.
Cramer stated:
“The only way to beat this disease for good is a vaccine, one that prevents you from getting symptoms and, more importantly, prevents you from being a carrier. Of course, vaccines take a very long time, but we’ll get there. JNJ’s experienced at it. They’re way ahead of everybody else. I trust them.”
Johnson & Johnson has been working on a vaccine since January. The company has collaborated with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services. In September, Johnson & Johnson is planning to begin human trials. If successful, the company will produce between 600 million and 900 million vaccine doses by the end of March 2021.
Johnson & Johnson Stock Performance
On April 15, Johnson & Johnson (NASDAQ: JNJ) stock closed $1.12% up at $147.66. After hours, it dropped by 0.41% to $147.06. Since the beginning of 2020, Johnson & Johnson shares have lost about 4.2%. This year, the highest Johnson & Johnson stock closing price was $153.99 on February 5. The lowest point was in March when the whole market suffered. On March 23, JNJ stock fell to $111.14 per share.
This week, Johnson & Johnson released its Q1 2020 earnings report. Its revenue amounted to $20.69 billion, surpassing the year-ago revenues of $20.02 billion. Further, the company’s earnings of $2.30 per share beat the S&P Capital IQ Consensus estimate $2 per share. Johnson & Johnson has also announced a 6.3% increase in the quarterly dividend rate, from $0.95 per share to $1.01 per share, which marks the 58th consecutive year of dividend growth.
As for the sales, the company’s consumer-health division has seen sales of $3.6 billion, compared with $3.3 billion a year earlier. Pharmaceutical sales were 10.2% up from the first quarter last year on an adjusted operational basis. However, there has been a downslide of 4.8% in medical device sales.
Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide sales were $20.7 billion for the first quarter, 5.6% higher than in 2019.