J&J expects Covid vaccine sales to jump as much as 46% in 2022

Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it expects to generate as much as $3.5 billion from the sale of its COVID-19 vaccine this year compared to $2.39 billion in 2021, in a sign of easing manufacturing problems and increasing demand.

Delivery delays and an uneven demand during last year resulted in the drugmaker narrowly missing its goal of garnering $2.50 billion in vaccine sales in 2021.

J&J shares fell 1.2% before the opening bell as overall fourth-quarter sales also missed market expectations due to a bleak performance by a few of the big revenue drivers such as cancer drug Imbruvica and Crohn's disease treatment Stelara.

Contributions from the coronavirus vaccine are expected to be a small part of J&J's overall sales as the company sells it at a not-for-profit price.

Rivals Pfizer and Moderna, however, have benefited from sales of their vaccines, forecasting multi-billion dollars in revenue from their shots in 2021 and 2022.

J&J's forecast comes at a time when it looks to separate its consumer health unit and focus on medical devices and pharmaceuticals businesses.

Sales of J&J's and AbbVie's cancer drug Imbruvica came in at $1.06 billion, below Wall Street estimates of $1.17 billion. Stelara sales of $2.33 billion also missed estimates of $2.45 billion.

Overall sales of $24.80 billion missed expectations of $25.29 billion, according to Refinitiv data.