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US Stocks Slip, Johnson & Johnson profit rise despite sales drop

By Germaine Lombardo for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 14, 2009

U.S. stocks on Tuesday ended mostly lower, with the S&P 500 halting a six-day winning streak after sales from health giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) disappointed investors. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) fell 1.5 percent to $187.23 after influential banking analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded the stock, saying the upside could be limited for the company in the medium term.

Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) agreed to buy Starent Networks Corp (NASDAQ:STAR) for $2.9 billion, or $35 per share.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is the world’s top-selling maker of medical devices and diagnostic products executives said Tuesday a proposed tax on medical device makers, part of the health care reform package moving in the Senate, is too high and could cost jobs in the industry.

“We think that the $4 billion tax that they’re referring to is unreasonable,” J&J Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso told The Associated Press in an interview. “We believe it’s at least twice what it ought to be.”

J&J fell $1.52, or 2.4 percent, to $61.01 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the steepest decline since April 22. Shares of the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company are up 2 percent in 2009.

Third-quarter revenue fell 5.3 percent to $15.1 billion, below the $15.2 billion anticipated by 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales of medical devices didn’t advance enough to counter declining sales of drugs and consumer items, hurt by generic competition and slower spending in the recession.

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