Photo/Wu Fan (NBD) 

The healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson reported quarterly earnings on Tuesday, with both revenue and earnings per share beating Wall Street's estimates.

The company said its sales hit 20.4 billion U.S. dollars for the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 1.0 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

Excluding after-tax intangible amortization expense and special items, adjusted net earnings for the current quarter were 5.4 billion U.S. dollars and adjusted diluted earnings per share were 1.97 U.S. dollars, representing increases of 12.5 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

For the full-year 2018, the company's worldwide sales were 81.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 6.7 percent versus 2017. Its net earnings and diluted earnings per share were 15.3 billion U.S. dollars and 5.61 U.S. dollars, respectively.

The company is divided in three main business units: pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products. Its worldwide pharmaceutical sales reached 40.7 billion U.S. dollars for the full-year 2018, representing an increase of 12.4 percent.

The healthcare giant also gave out its guidance for this year. It forecast 2019 earnings of between 8.50 U.S. dollars and 8.65 U.S. dollars per share and revenue in the range of 80.4 billion U.S. dollars to 81.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Shares of the company dropped 1.45 percent to close at 128.80 U.S. dollars on Tuesday.

The company's stock price has fallen by more than 9 percent since December last year as concerns about potential product liability from contamination of its baby powder stoked a sell-off.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn