Johnson & Johnson "neutral weight," estimates reduced

03/13/07 - Prudential Financial

NEW YORK, March 13 (newratings.com) - Analyst Larry Biegelsen of Prudential Financial maintains his "neutral weight" rating on Johnson & Johnson DC (JNJ), while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $73.

In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentions that the labels on Procrit/Eprex drugs have been modified by the FDA to include a warning indicating increased risk of death if EPO drugs are consumed by the patients having hemoglobin level above 12 g/dl. Medicare has also decided to prohibit the reimbursement for the EPO drugs for the treatment of cancer inflicted anemia, the analyst says. The company has revealed that the oncology indication accounts for 60%-70% Procrit sales and 40% Eprex sales. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been reduced from $3.90 to $3.88 and from $4.37 to $4.35, respectively.