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AGING Analysis Report
Jul 30, 2026
24 days ago · 100% complete
These price targets were computed from last year's numbers — and this year is going noticeably worse. Projection assumes +7.7% growth but recent quarters show net income -26.2% YoY (through 2026-06-28) — annual-baselined fair values are likely stale-high. Until the statements catch up, read the growth-based fair values (DCF, anchored) as a best case, not a target; the EPV floor (worth with zero growth assumed) and the current market price are the trustworthy numbers right now.
NOT DEPENDABLE This report predates a filing — its financial basis has been replaced.
Report generated: Jul 30, 2026 · Filing on record since: Aug 19, 2026 · 20 days after
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Watch · Gem Score +2 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 100 · Value -79 · Sentiment 6 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $171.51 vs $265.53 at analysis

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysisthe core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Johnson & Johnson

JNJ NYSE
Healthcare · Drug Manufacturers - General
New Brunswick, NJ 08933, United States jnj.com Updated Jul 30, 12:11am
Price
$265.53
Market Cap
$639.9B
Employees
138,200
Beta
0.24
Avg Volume
8,754,077
Last Dividend
$5.24
CEO
Mr. Joaquin Duato

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company engaged in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of healthcare products worldwide. It operates through two primary segments: Innovative Medicine, which focuses on pharmaceuticals including treatments for immunology, oncology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, and pulmonary hypertension; and MedTech, which provides advanced surgical equipment, devices for orthopaedics, vision care, and solutions for robotics, navigation, and digital technologies. The company delivers innovative medicines and medical technologies that address unmet patient needs across diverse therapeutic areas, supporting healthcare professionals and consumers globally. Johnson & Johnson plays a pivotal role in the healthcare sector by advancing medical innovation and improving health outcomes through its broad portfolio of branded products and services. Founded in 1887 and headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, it remains a cornerstone of the global health technology and pharmaceuticals industry.

Runs with full report Generated: Jul 30, 2026 12:28am
Price Overview
Price at report time
$265.53
as of Jul 30, 12:33am (24d ago)
Change · Jul 30
-1.20 (-0.45%)
Day Range
$264.79 – $269.34
52-Week Range
$164.23 – $274.90
50-Day MA
$244.14
200-Day MA
$225.78
Volume
5,951,278.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 24d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 2,408,228,000.00
Float 2,405,898,165.00
Free Float 99.9%
High free float — 99.9% of shares trade freely, ~0.1% held by insiders/institutions
Very liquid — most shares trade freely. Low insider ownership can mean less management alignment, but makes large position sizing straightforward.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:42am (24d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:41am (24d ago)
Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Jul 30, 2026 12:26am
P/E Ratio (Price per dollar of earnings)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
24.07
Stock Price: $265.53
EPS (Diluted): 11.03
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
7.91
Stock Price: $265.53
Total Equity: $81.54B
Shares: 2,429,400,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
14.01
Market Cap: $639.90B
Total Debt: $47.94B
Cash: $19.71B
EBITDA: $47.66B
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$667.5B
Market Cap: $639.90B
Total Debt: $47.94B
Cash: $19.71B
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
67.9%
Gross Profit: $63.94B
Revenue: $94.19B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
42.6%
Operating Income: $40.15B
Revenue: $94.19B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
28.5%
Net Income: $26.80B
Revenue: $94.19B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
32.9%
Net Income: $26.80B
Total Equity: $81.54B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
30.1%
Operating Income: $40.15B
Tax Rate: 17.7%
Equity: $81.54B
Total Debt: $47.94B
Cash: $19.71B
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
1.03
Current Assets: $55.62B
Current Liabilities: $54.13B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
0.59
Short-Term Debt: $8.50B
Long-Term Debt: $39.44B
Total Debt: $47.94B
Total Equity: $81.54B
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$38.77
Revenue: $94.19B
Shares: 2,429,400,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$33.57
Total Equity: $81.54B
Shares: 2,429,400,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$8.11
Operating CF: $24.53B
CapEx: -$4.83B
Shares: 2,429,400,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
2.0%
Last Dividend: $5.24
Stock Price: $265.53
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
Dividends Paid: N/A
Net Income: $26.80B
Dividends paid not available in cash flow statement
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Jul 30, 2026 12:17am
Compares JNJ against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:41am (24d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2023 2024 2025
Revenue $93.8B $80.0B $85.2B $88.8B $94.2B
Cost of Revenue $29.9B $24.6B $26.6B $27.5B $30.3B
Gross Profit $63.9B $55.4B $58.6B $61.4B $63.9B
Operating Expenses $24.7B $20.2B $22.0B $24.7B $23.8B
Operating Income $39.3B $35.1B $36.6B $36.6B $40.2B
Net Income $20.9B $17.9B $35.2B $14.1B $26.8B
EBITDA $46.7B $42.1B $44.1B $44.0B $47.7B
EPS $7.93 $6.83 $13.88 $5.84 $11.13
EPS (Diluted) $7.81 $6.73 $13.72 $5.79 $11.03
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:11am (24d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2023 2024 2025
Cash & Equivalents $14.5B $12.9B $21.9B $24.1B $19.7B
Total Current Assets $61.0B $55.3B $53.5B $55.9B $55.6B
Total Assets $182.0B $187.4B $167.6B $180.1B $199.2B
Current Liabilities $45.2B $55.8B $46.3B $50.3B $54.1B
Long-Term Debt $30.0B $26.9B $25.9B $30.7B $39.4B
Total Liabilities $108.0B $110.6B $98.8B $108.6B $117.7B
Total Equity $74.0B $76.8B $68.8B $71.5B $81.5B
Retained Earnings $123.1B $128.3B $153.8B $155.8B $169.0B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:41am (24d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2023 2024 2025
Operating Cash Flow $23.4B $21.2B $22.8B $24.3B $24.5B
Capital Expenditure -$3.7B -$4.0B -$4.5B -$4.4B -$4.8B
Free Cash Flow $19.8B $17.2B $18.2B $19.8B $19.7B
Acquisitions (net) -$60.0M -$17.7B $0 -$15.1B -$17.5B
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) $200.0M $14.0B $12.2B $20.5B $22.0B
Dividends Paid
Stock Buybacks -$3.5B -$6.0B -$5.1B -$2.4B -$6.0B
Net Change in Cash $502.0M -$360.0M $7.7B $2.2B -$4.4B
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026 12:41am (24d ago)
Metric 2023 2023 2024 2025
Revenue Growth -14.7% +6.5% +4.3% +6.0%
Gross Profit Growth -13.3% +5.8% +4.7% +4.2%
Operating Income Growth -10.5% +4.2% +0.1% +9.6%
Net Income Growth -14.1% +95.9% -60.0% +90.6%
EBITDA Growth -9.7% +4.7% -0.3% +8.4%
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Jul 23, 2026 6:58pm (31d ago)
Date Dividend Declaration Record Payment
2026-05-26 $1.34
2026-02-24 $1.30
2025-11-25 $1.30
2025-08-26 $1.30
2025-05-27 $1.30
2025-02-18 $1.24
2024-11-26 $1.24
2024-08-27 $1.24
2024-05-20 $1.24
2024-02-16 $1.19
2023-11-20 $1.19
2023-08-25 $1.19
2023-05-22 $1.19
2023-02-17 $1.13
2022-11-21 $1.13
2022-08-22 $1.13
2022-05-23 $1.13
2022-02-18 $1.06
2021-11-22 $1.06
2021-08-23 $1.06
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable 18 computed · 6 not applicable
Risk : Reward — if the last quarter repeats
Live · as of 2026-08-19 09:01
-0.7 : 1 recovery upside vs repeat-quarter downside
Even the bull case prices 35% below today — the ratio here measures the model-vs-market gap, not payoff odds. Another quarter like the worst recent one costs 51%.
CaseGrowthMarginFair valuevs price ($265.53)
Bull — recovery +12% 24.7% $173.54 -35%
Base — stabilizes +8% 21.5% $135.03 -49%
Bear — keeps slipping +4% 18.3% $102.98 -61%
Stress — last quarter repeats +7% 21.5% $130.40 -51%
The next quarters keep the trajectory of the worst recent matched quarter (ending 2026-06-28) — growth stays at 6.6% and margins bend by the same profit-vs-revenue ratio (×1.00). Stress is a trajectory, not a prediction — it answers "what if the ship's current heading simply continues," which history says is the case to respect.
Why this is appearing: this company files quarterly, so its recent trajectory could be measured rather than assumed — the engine matched Jun 2026, Mar 2026 against the same quarters one year earlier and found revenue +8.2% · net income -34.9% year-over-year. That measured heading is what the stress case extends forward. Of those, the stress case extends the worst matched quarter — the one ending Jun 28, 2026 (revenue +6.6% YoY) — not the average. Data measured through Jun 28, 2026 — this card recalculates automatically when the next quarterly filing is ingested. Companies without quarterly filings (many foreign listings) never show this card: with no measured trajectory, there is nothing honest to repeat.
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for JNJ — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-07-30 00:41:28
Verdict Overvalued but not by 32% — fair value $215-230 vs $265; hold if owned, wait for a St

Looking at the raw numbers first: JNJ is running at roughly $97-98B annualized revenue (Q2 2026 at $25.31B, up 6.6% YoY from $23.74B), with net margins re-stabilizing in the 21-22% band after the 2025 Kenvue-related distortions (that Q1 2025 50.2% margin and the $11B NI print is the spinoff gain, not operating reality). Underlying earnings power looks like ~$21-22B annualized on current quarterly cadence, which puts trailing P/E closer to 29-30x on clean numbers rather than the 24x headline. Gross margin at 68%, operating margin 42%, ROIC 30%, FCF $19.7B — this is genuinely elite capital productivity. Debt/equity 0.59 with $19.7B cash against $47.9B debt is not remotely stretched for a company generating ~$20B in FCF. The 1.97% dividend yield on a $640B market cap implies ~$12.6B in dividends, roughly 64% of FCF — sustainable but not expandable without pipeline delivery.

The synthesis model's $179 fair value strikes me as too punitive. A DCF that spits out a 32% discount to market on a company compounding revenue at 5-6%, generating 30% ROIC, with a durable franchise and AAA-tier balance sheet is likely using either an aggressive discount rate or terminal growth assumption inconsistent with healthcare demographics. That said, the market-forces "neutral" read and the narrative layer's observation that the premium is "entirely narrative" both point at the right tension: JNJ is priced at ~30x clean earnings against 5% top-line growth and negative 12.7% earnings CAGR (admittedly distorted by talc/spin comparisons). The pre-flight note about Stelara biosimilar erosion is the real issue — Stelara was ~$10B in peak revenue and is actively being eroded in 2024-2026, which is exactly why revenue growth is only 5-6% despite oncology (Darzalex, Carvykti) and pipeline strength. The Q2 2026 acceleration to $25.3B suggests the Stelara cliff is being absorbed better than feared.

The contrarian case against the synthesis "overvalued" verdict: JNJ post-Kenvue is a higher-quality business than the historical composite suggests. Operating margins expanded from ~40% pre-spin to 43% post, and the pharma mix means terminal growth should plausibly be 3-4%, not the 2% GDP-anchor most DCFs use. Rerate 3% terminal at a 7.5% WACC on $20B FCF and you get closer to $440B-$500B — still below the $640B market cap, but the gap is 25-35%, not 48%. The contrarian case FOR the synthesis verdict: insider activity shows sales dominating exercises (net negative), the pipeline replacement math for Stelara requires Tremfya, Rybrevant, and Carvykti to all hit consensus, and litigation reserves (talc especially) remain a live tail risk with settlement figures that have crept from $8.9B to reportedly $10B+. At 30x clean earnings you're paying a growth-stock multiple for a company whose earnings CAGR is negative on a 3-yr look-back.

Where the data is thin: the 2026 quarter dates suggest this file uses fiscal-year-forward stamping — I'm treating June 2026 as a recent print, but if this is actually projected/pre-announced data the entire recent-trajectory read weakens. The insider transactions are unattributed ("?") which makes it impossible to distinguish CEO/CFO signaling from routine option exercises by mid-level officers. No segment breakout means I can't verify the pre-flight's central claim that MedTech and Pharma have divergent trajectories — critical for a sum-of-parts case. Macro headwinds flagged without specifics; healthcare is typically defensive against most macro regimes so this feels like a stale tag. I largely agree with the synthesis direction (overvalued) but dissent on magnitude — $179 is too low; fair value is closer to $215-230, meaning ~15-20% overvalued rather than 32%. That's not a short, it's a "don't chase" — and the narrative layer's "institutional inertia" observation explains exactly why the premium persists and why it could compress slowly rather than collapse.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-07-30 00:41:46
Verdict I agree with Opus on direction but not enough on downside — JNJ is overvalued at $265, and I’d put fair value closer to $200-220, not $215-230, because the cash-flow yield and normalized earnings base don’t support a bigger premium.

What jumps out to me is not “elite compounding” so much as a very high-quality but plainly mature franchise being capitalized as if its post-spin economics are cleaner and faster than the actual cash record shows. Revenue has improved from $88.8B in 2024 to $94.2B in 2025, and the last four quarters sum to about $96.9B, so the top line is indeed growing in the mid-single digits. But cash generation is less flattering than the income statement: 2025 free cash flow was $19.7B against $26.8B of net income, and operating cash flow was only $24.5B. On a $639.9B market cap, that is roughly a 3.1% FCF yield. For a company with 5-6% revenue growth, recent normalized net margins around 21-22%, and real patent/litigation uncertainty, that is expensive. The balance sheet is solid rather than magical: $47.9B of debt offset by $19.7B cash leaves about $28B net debt, perfectly manageable, but hardly a reason to suspend valuation discipline. I see a business with unusually strong gross and operating margins for a megacap healthcare company, but also one whose market value is asking investors to pay nearly 24x reported earnings, almost 8x book, and nearly 7x sales for stability more than acceleration.

The quarterly pattern also matters. Excluding the obvious one-off $11.0B net income quarter in March 2025, earnings have settled into a narrow $5.1B-$5.5B range while revenue has climbed from $22.5B in late 2024 to $25.3B in June 2026. That is healthy, but it is not the shape of a business with major operating leverage still ahead; it looks closer to a mature earnings plateau with incremental top-line gains. Annual operating income rose from $36.6B in 2024 to $40.2B in 2025, which is good, but 2022 revenue was still higher at $93.8B than 2025’s $94.2B is by only a whisker. So the deeper story I see is that JNJ has become a cleaner, more focused asset post-Kenvue, yet the multi-year economic trajectory remains far more “steady incumbent” than “re-rated growth compounder.” At $265.53, the stock is being valued for resilience, not for what the last several years of revenue, FCF, and normalized earnings actually prove.

Opus argues the synthesis model’s roughly $179 fair value is “too punitive,” and on that narrow point I agree. A company with 67.9% gross margin, 42.6% operating margin, 30% ROIC, and a sub-0.6 debt/equity ratio should not trade as if it were some no-mo industrial. But I disagree with Opus’s softer framing that fair value is $215-230 because the gap between quality and price is still larger than they suggest. Their core move is to reframe reported P/E to a “clean” 29-30x earnings, and that is directionally right; where I part ways is that once you admit clean earnings power is only around $21-22B, the current valuation becomes harder, not easier, to defend. A $640B equity value on $21-22B of normalized earnings and $19.7B of FCF is still rich even for a premier healthcare name. Opus also says the Q2 2026 revenue of $25.3B suggests the Stelara cliff is being absorbed better than feared. Maybe, but the evidence provided only shows consolidated growth, not replacement quality. Without segment or product-level disclosure here, I would not infer successful absorption simply from 6-7% revenue growth and flat-ish quarterly earnings.

I agree with Opus that the March 2025 quarter is non-economic noise and should be stripped out, and I agree that the balance sheet is comfortably financeable. I also agree with their dismissal of insider data as weak evidence; the transactions shown are mostly option exercises and related sales, not a persuasive signal. Where I disagree more sharply is with Opus’s suggestion that post-Kenvue JNJ deserves a structurally higher terminal-growth framework because it is a “higher-quality business than the historical composite suggests.” The quality may be higher, but quality alone does not justify paying 14x EV/EBITDA and over 7x EV/revenue for a company whose annual revenue CAGR is only 5.2%, whose FCF CAGR is 3.9%, and whose earnings history is heavily distorted by non-operating items. The Delvantic AI Findings says the premium is “entirely narrative”; that overstates it, but the broad point is correct. The market is paying a scarcity premium for safety, brand, and institutional ownership. That premium is real, but at this price it is too large.

A careful skeptic of both my view and Opus’s would say we may both be underestimating the value of durability in an era where investors will pay up for non-cyclical cash flows, especially with a 1.97% dividend, strong returns on capital, and low probability of balance-sheet stress. They would also note that if revenue annualizes near $100B and net income holds around $22B while litigation fades, today’s multiple could compress naturally into something acceptable without a price drop. That is fair. But based on the numbers here, the burden of proof is on the bull case: JNJ looks like a premium business, not a premium growth business, and those are not worth the same multiple.

Grok Reading
Grok (xAI) reads the identical raw briefing blind — one of the Big-3 independent readings — and commits to its own verdict.
No Grok reading yet for JNJ — it's generated by the pipeline (grok-critique step) alongside the other Big-3 seats, when a report is run on this ticker.
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-07-30 01:06:51
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Quality - wait for a dip 8/10
Fortress business at a full price - own it if you have it, but don't chase here at $265 when deserved value clusters near $180.
The cruxWhether you're willing to pay a 45%+ premium to composite fair value for certainty and defensive positioning, or wait for a real drawdown to get paid for the quality.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from JNJ's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwaySelf-Funding
DilutionShare Count Shrinking
Earnings QualityHigh Earnings Quality
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
+100
Fortress
edge √Σ 153 · risk √Σ 52 · conf 8/10

JNJ prints roughly $19-20B of free cash flow every year like clockwork (19.76, 17.19, 18.25, 19.84, 19.70 across the 2022-2025 span), on revenue that has re-accelerated from 79.99B in 2023 (post-Kenvue separation) to 94.19B in 2025. Gross margins sit at a stable 68-69% and operating margins in a tight 41-44% band - this is the profile of a durable, high-moat drug/medtech franchise with pricing power. Earnings quality is clean: OCF/NI of 1.12x, accruals at -0.1% of assets, Beneish M of -2.24, and Altman Z of 5.6 all indicate reported profits are backed by cash, not accruals.

Strengths 5
m85
Elite, stable cash generation
FCF of ~$19.7B/yr with remarkable consistency across four years despite the Kenvue spin and litigation overhang; ~21% FCF margin on 2025 revenue.
m75
Clean earnings integrity
OCF/NI 1.12x, accruals -0.1% of assets, Beneish M -2.24, Altman Z 5.6 - no mechanical red flags; reported numbers are real.
m70
Per-share value being concentrated
Diluted shares fell from 2.67B to 2.43B (-2.4% CAGR); buyback/SBC ratio of 384% means SBC (1.4% of revenue) is more than fully offset by repurchases.
m60
High and stable margin structure
Gross margin 67.9-69.3% and operating margin 41.3-43.9% over four years suggests durable pricing power and moat across pharma/medtech portfolio.
m45
Revenue reacceleration post-spin
Ex-Kenvue base of $79.99B in 2023 grew to $94.19B in 2025 (~8.5% CAGR), showing the remaining pharma+medtech franchise is growing organically.
Concerns 3
m40
Net debt position
Net cash of -$27.84B against $20.1B liquid cash; balance sheet is a constraint rather than a cushion, though easily serviceable given $19.7B annual FCF.
m30
Lumpy net income line
Net income swung 20.88 -> 17.94 -> 35.15 -> 14.07 -> 26.80 (Bn), reflecting spin gains and litigation/impairment charges; the noise is real even if cash flow is steady.
m15
Neutral-to-mild insider selling
$8.2M in sales vs zero open-market buys, but volumes are trivial for insiders at a company this size and appear tied to option exercises - not a directional signal.
This is a genuinely high-quality business. The cash generation is elite and boringly consistent, margins are fortress-like, earnings are backed by cash rather than accruals, and management is a net buyer of its own stock at scale. The only real caveats are net debt (not a survival issue at ~$19.7B FCF), lumpy GAAP net income from litigation/spin noise, and unresolved talc/opioid tail risk that lives in the footnotes. On business quality alone, this is close to the top of the pharma cohort - a mature, durable compounder.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Talc and opioid litigation reserves and remaining exposure in the 10-K contingencies footnote
  • Stelara biosimilar erosion pace and pipeline coverage (Darzalex, Tremfya, Carvykti trajectories)
  • Pharma vs MedTech segment growth mix and any customer/product concentration
  • Gross debt maturity schedule and interest coverage detail behind the -$27.84B net cash figure
  • Working capital and inventory trends to confirm the clean accruals reading is not masking channel stuffing
Valuation / Mispricing
-79
Rich
edge √Σ 25 · risk √Σ 104 · conf 6/10
Price $265.53 vs deserved ~$180-$200, roughly 25-30% above fair — no margin of safety. attractive below $210.00

The e2e composite fair value is $171.51 with a signal-adjusted mark of $179.40, implying roughly -32% downside from the $265.53 price. The EPV floor of $171.51 corroborates the ballpark, so this is not a runaway single-method artifact — the deserved-value cluster sits in the high $170s to maybe low $200s once you credit the Fortress quality grade and elite FCF. Even generously adding a premium for durability and dividend consistency, getting from ~$180 to $265 requires the market to underwrite continued pipeline offsets to the Stelara cliff, MedTech reacceleration, and a benign resolution of talc/opioid tails — much of which is a 'show me' bet, not a discount.

Cheap signals 1
m25
Fortress quality deserves a premium
Elite FCF (~$19.7B), clean earnings, and durable moat justify trading above raw DCF/EPV — but a 45%+ premium to composite FV is more than 'deserved premium.'
Rich / priced-in 4
m70
Composite FV well below price
Composite $171.51 and signal-adjusted $179.40 vs $265.53 imply -32% downside; even with a quality premium, price sits meaningfully above the deserved cluster.
m55
EPV floor corroborates
EPV of $171.51 aligns with the composite, meaning the earnings-power view alone does not support anywhere near $265; you are paying for growth/optionality on top.
m45
Priced for smooth patent-cliff navigation
Stelara/Imbruvica erosion and litigation tails are not visibly discounted at ~17-18x forward; the market is underwriting flawless offset execution.
m30
Defensive megacap crowding
As a rate-sensitive dividend aristocrat, JNJ tends to get bid in flight-to-quality regimes; some of the premium is macro positioning, not fundamentals.
This is a Fortress business at a full price, and my job is not to grade the business. Composite FV in the $171-$180 zone vs $265 spot means I am being asked to pay a 45%+ premium to deserved value for certainty I already know exists. I would want it closer to $210 before I get interested, and genuinely excited nearer $185. Today it is a hold-if-you-own-it, do-not-buy-here on valuation grounds.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Stelara biosimilar erosion trajectory in next 2-4 quarters vs guidance
  • MedTech organic growth reacceleration and margin trend
  • Talc trust funding status and any incremental opioid liability true-ups
  • Pipeline contribution (Tremfya, Rybrevant, Carvykti) offset math vs LOEs
  • Buyback pace vs dilution and net debt trajectory
General Sentiment
+6
Balanced
tail √Σ 66 · head √Σ 60 · conf 6/10

The macro tape is stressed (VIX 20.7, S&P off 3.9%, 10y at 4.61%), but JNJ's 0.24 beta and defensive-pharma classification mean the risk-off pressure that is crushing high-beta story stocks lands here as a mild tailwind - money looking to hide rotates toward exactly this profile. That defensive bid is the single most important sentiment force on the name right now. Offsetting it, the active narrative is 'steady compounder' with moderate intensity and low cult - durable but boring, which means no momentum crowd and no re-rating impulse; the tape can lift it, but the story cannot. News flow is mixed-to-slightly-negative: the $5.5B talc settlement headline reopens a litigation overhang investors thought was fading, and a competing-pharma headline ('Meet the Stock That's Obliterating Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, and AbbVie') reinforces that JNJ is being framed as the laggard in its cohort. The Firefly Bio close and Sail Biomedicines CAR-T collaboration are modest narrative positives (pipeline / innovation optics) but too small to shift tone. Net: defensive rotation tailwind roughly offsets talc-headline and laggard-framing headwinds - balanced, with a slight lean to the positive side in a stress tape.

Tailwinds 3
m55
Defensive bid in a risk-off tape
VIX 20.7 and a stressed regime typically drive rotation into low-beta megacap pharma; at beta 0.24 JNJ is a textbook hide-out, muting macro headwind and drawing relative flows.
m30
Durable steady-compounder narrative
The story is boring but durable - dividend aristocrat, healthcare scale - which prevents narrative breakage even when the tape is ugly. No cult means no unwind risk either.
m20
Pipeline optics from CAR-T deal and Firefly close
Sail Biomedicines in-vivo CAR-T collaboration and Firefly Bio acquisition close feed the 'innovation is intact' side of the narrative - small but on-message.
Headwinds 3
m45
Talc settlement headline reopens litigation overhang
A $5.5B proposed settlement puts the talc liability back on the front page just as investors were beginning to look past it - a sentiment negative even if fundamentally a resolution step.
m30
Laggard framing vs pharma peers
Headlines explicitly frame JNJ as being 'obliterated' by a competitor stock, and AbbVie is being repositioned as the cheap pharma story - JNJ is losing the relative-narrative fight within its own sector.
m25
Rates and market PE pressure on defensive yielders
10y at 4.61% and market PE 26.2 mean dividend-growth defensives compete with risk-free yield; caps the upside of the flight-to-safety bid.
Net pressure is roughly balanced with a faint positive tilt. In a normal tape I would call this a mild headwind - the narrative is stale, the talc headline is fresh, and peers are stealing the pharma spotlight. But with VIX at 20.7 and the tape stressed, a 0.24-beta megacap defensive is exactly what gets bid, and that rotation force is doing real work here. I would not lean on sentiment either way for a decisive call on JNJ right now - the tape is helping, the story is not, and they cancel.
Verify before trusting this (4)
  • Whether the $5.5B talc offer is accepted or triggers a fresh wave of plaintiff pushback in the next 2-4 weeks
  • Sector rotation flows: is defensive pharma actually catching bids as VIX stays above 20, or is money going to staples/utilities instead
  • Analyst target revisions post-talc headline - any downgrades would break the balanced read
  • Whether the AbbVie 'cheap pharma' narrative pulls capital away from JNJ specifically
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
not run

This lens hasn't been run for this ticker yet.

The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
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Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
About flat -4.3% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Jul 30, 2026, JNJ was $265.53. We expect it to be $254.00 by Jan 2027, and we consider it great value under $210.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Jul 30, 2026.

Price when predicted$265.53
Our estimate for Jan 2027$254.00-4.3%
Great value below$210.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

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My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.562 · 9b2927c4 · 2026-08-22 16:52:06