Johnson & Johnson $JNJ ( ▲ 0.22% ) did what Wall Street usually loves: it beat expectations and raised the outlook.
And yet the stock still slipped.
J&J reported Q4 sales of $24.6B, topping the $24.1B analysts expected, and it posted adjusted EPS of $2.46, basically in line with estimates.
The 2026 outlook was the real flex
Management guided to:
$100B to $101B in 2026 revenue vs. $98.9B expected
$11.43 to $11.63 in adjusted EPS vs. $11.48 expected
That is objectively “cheery guidance” for a mega-cap pharma name.
So why is the stock down?
Even after the beat and upbeat forecast, J&J fell more than 2% in premarket, basically a reminder that markets don’t just care about good numbers, they care about whether the good numbers are already priced in.
Not every beat gets rewarded.