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Johnson & Johnson

JNJ on NYSE. Pharmaceutical preparations. Market value $609.5bn.

Watch this stockFree. We tell you when something changes.

Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.

The company doesn't report operating profit, so we work it out from pre-tax profit and interest.

Should I look at this?

Good business, but not cheap right now

Why it could be worth it

What to watch out for

See cheaper Health care stocks on the list

This is not advice. Check the numbers below.

Compare with another stock

Cash yield
past 12 months to June 2026
3.6%fair

For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $3.65 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.

Price to profit
past 12 months to June 2026
24.3×full

You pay 24.3 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.

Return on capital
five annual reports to December 2025
16.1%five-year median

Each dollar kept in the business earns 16 cents a year. Above 10 is good.

Quality score: 90 of 100. Price score: 49 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.

$252.93 a share, 38% above its 1-year low

Over the past year the price has ranged from $182.94 to $281.07.

Expected to report results Tuesday 13 Oct, before the market opens.

Dividend: 2.0% a year

Paid every year for at least 5 years

Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).

Five years of cash, in billions

19.8
17.2
18.2
19.8
19.7
22.2
2021202220232024202512 monthsto Jun '26
Revenue
$78.7bn$80.0bn$85.2bn$88.8bn$94.2bn
Operating margin
24.6%24.5%18.6%19.6%35.6%
Debt to equity
0.480.540.450.540.61
Shares outstanding
2.61bn2.41bn2.41bn2.41bn2.41bn

Health checks

  • Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
  • Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
  • Financial strength (Piotroski)3 of 8 checks we could run
  • Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
  • Debt0.61× equity
  • Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 2.7% a year
  • Buying back its own sharesYes, 8% fewer since 2021

The quarter to June 2026

How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

  • Sales: $25.3 billion last quarter, up 7% on a year ago.
  • Profit: $5.5 billion, about the same as a year ago.
  • Spare cash over the past 12 months: $22.2 billion, up from $18.5 billion.
  • 1% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
  • Debt is $28.6 billion more than cash, down from $32.2 billion a year ago.
  • Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
Sales by quarter
Sales by quarter
Quarter toAmount
September 2024$22.5bn
December 2024$22.5bn
March 2025$21.9bn
June 2025$23.7bn
September 2025$24.0bn
December 2025$24.6bn
March 2026$24.1bn
June 2026$25.3bn
Profit by quarter
Profit by quarter
Quarter toAmount
September 2024$2.7bn
December 2024$3.4bn
March 2025$11.0bn
June 2025$5.5bn
September 2025$5.2bn
December 2025$5.1bn
March 2026$5.2bn
June 2026$5.5bn

From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.

Dates

Next results (estimated)
13 October 2026
Last annual report (10-K)
11 February 2026
Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
22 October 2026

Who owns it

31 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 32 last quarter. 4,673 funds in all.

Jun '25
Dec '25
Jun '26

Sold out this quarter

Largest holders overall

From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.

Big holders and activists

1 investor owns more than 5%.

From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.

What insiders did

In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $257,688 of shares on the open market. 10 sold $155m.

  • Schmid Timothy
    EVP, WW Chair, MedTech
    Sold
    Date
    2 September 2026
    Shares
    33,597
    Price
    $274.74
    Value
    $9m
  • Taubert Jennifer L
    EVP, WWC. Innovative Medicine
    Sold
    Date
    17 August 2026
    Shares
    15,000
    Price
    $263.36
    Value
    $4m
  • Duato Joaquin
    CEO and Chairman of the Board, Director
    Sold
    Date
    13 August 2026
    Shares
    123,291
    Price
    $261.17
    Value
    $32m
  • Forminard Elizabeth
    EVP, Chief Legal Officer
    Sold
    Date
    6 August 2026
    Shares
    15,918
    Price
    $257.00
    Value
    $4m
  • Duato Joaquin
    CEO and Chairman of the Board, Director
    Sold
    Date
    5 August 2026
    Shares
    48,480
    Price
    $258.15
    Value
    $13m
  • Broadhurst Vanessa
    EVP, Global Corp Affairs
    Sold
    Date
    20 July 2026
    Shares
    23,054
    Price
    $251.27
    Value
    $6m
  • Wengel Kathryn E
    EVP, Chief TO and Risk Officer
    Sold
    Date
    11 June 2026
    Shares
    10,000
    Price
    $241.15
    Value
    $2m
  • Decker Robert J
    VP Corporate Controller
    Sold
    Date
    27 February 2026
    Shares
    4,075
    Price
    $247.87
    Value
    $1m
  • Schmid Timothy
    EVP, WW Chair, MedTech
    Sold
    Date
    20 February 2026
    Shares
    1,322
    Price
    $245.66
    Value
    $324,763
  • Schmid Timothy
    EVP, WW Chair, MedTech
    Sold
    Date
    18 February 2026
    Shares
    22,623
    Price
    $244.33
    Value
    $6m

From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.

Warning signs in its filings

Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.

None of the warning signs we check for were found.

We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.

We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 11 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 23 Jul 2026 and 6 later 8-Ks.

A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.

What could go wrong

Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.

Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.

What changed in the risks this year

Companies must list what could hurt them each year. These are the parts that changed since last year’s report.

  • The costs to complete the planned separation will be significant. In addition, the Company may be unable to achieve some of the strategic and financial benefits that it expects to achieve from the planned separation of the Company's Orthopaedics business

    Could happen
    The Company will incur significant expenses in connection with the planned separation. In addition, the Company may not be able to achieve the full strategic and financial benefits that are expected to result from the planned separation. The anticipated benefits of the planned separation are based on a number of assumptions, some of which may prove incorrect.
    Read more

  • The planned separation of the Company's Orthopaedics business may not be completed on the terms or timeline currently contemplated, if at all, and may not achieve the expected results

    Could happen
    In October 2025, the Company announced its intention to separate the Company's Orthopaedics business. The Company is targeting completion of the planned separation in 18 to 24 months after initial announcement. Completion of the planned separation will be subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including, among others, consultations with works councils and other employee representative bodies, as may be required, final approval of the Company's Board of Directors, and receipt of other regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance regarding the ultimate timing of the planned separation or that such separation will be completed. Unanticipated developments could delay, prevent or otherwise adversely affect the planned separation, including but not limited to disruptions in general or financial market conditions or potential problems or delays in obtaining various regulatory approvals or clearances.
    Read more

  • Following the planned separation, the price of shares of the Company's common stock may fluctuate significantly

    Could happen
    The Company cannot predict the effect of the planned separation on the trading price of shares of its common stock, and market value of shares of its common stock may be less than, equal to or greater than the market value of shares of its common stock prior to the planned separation. In addition, the price of the Company's common stock may be more volatile around the time of the planned separation.
    Read more

Read it in the annual report

The deep dive

Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.

  • What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
  • Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
  • The three things that would make this a mistake
  • Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
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What a finished deep dive looks like

Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.