The Smartest Move Johnson & Johnson Has Made All Year

Healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is what you might call a stalwart in the portfolios of risk-averse, income-seeking long-term investors. It's about as rock-solid as they come in the healthcare sector, with geographic and operational diversity, a AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's, and a superior dividend yield that's been raised for 55 consecutive years. You can count on two hands how many publicly traded companies have a longer ongoing streak of raising their annual payout, and you'll need just two fingers to tally the number of public companies with a AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

Nevertheless, Johnson & Johnson isn't perfect. Then again, no company is. Its lead drug Remicade is facing biosimilar competition that's hampered its pricing power, leading SGLT-2 inhibitor Invokana has lost its luster in type 2 diabetes, and J&J's operational diversity is more swayed now than in recent years toward pharmaceuticals, which comes with the added risk of losing exclusivity of brand-name drugs.

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Source: Fool.com