Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted revenue that beat analysts' estimates within the December quarter as the corporate continues to profit from the AI ​​boom.

The world's largest chipmaker reported fourth-quarter revenue of 868.5 billion recent Taiwan dollars ($26.3 billion), in keeping with CNBC calculations, up 38.8% from a 12 months earlier.

That beat Refinitiv consensus estimates of 850.1 billion recent Taiwan dollars.

In 2024, TSMC's revenue was 2.9 trillion New Taiwan dollars, its highest annual revenue since its IPO in 1994.

TSMC makes semiconductors for among the world's largest corporations, including Apple And Nvidia.

Due to its ability to provide cutting-edge semiconductors, TSMC is taken into account probably the most advanced chipmaker on this planet. The company was supported by strong demand for AI chips, especially from Nvidia, in addition to for ever-improving smartphone semiconductors.

“TSMC has benefited significantly from strong demand for AI,” Brady Wang, deputy director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.

Wang said “capacity utilization” for TSMC's 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer processes – its most advanced chips – has “consistently exceeded 100%.”

AI graphics processing units (GPUs), akin to those developed by Nvidia, and other artificial intelligence chips are driving this demand, Wang said.

TSMC's Taiwan-listed shares have risen 88% prior to now 12 months.

TSMC's latest sales figures could also give investors hope that demand for artificial intelligence chips and services could proceed into 2025.

Foxconnwhich assembles Apple's iPhones, this week reported its highest-ever fourth-quarter revenue as the corporate saw strong demand for AI servers.

In the meantime, Microsoft This month, the corporate said it plans to spend $80 billion within the fiscal 12 months ending in June to construct data centers that may handle artificial intelligence workloads.

Merck on Thursday reported Third-quarter sales and adjusted profit beat expectations as the corporate posted strong sales from its top-selling cancer drug Keytruda, recently launched treatments and its animal health business.

But Merck's vaccine, which prevents cancer attributable to HPV, essentially the most common sexually transmitted infection within the U.S., posted one other quarter of lower-than-expected sales. Sales of the Gardasil vaccine fell 11% in comparison with the identical period last 12 months.

The pharmaceutical giant lowered its full-year revenue forecast to a spread of $63.6 billion to $64.1 billion from a previous forecast of $63.4 billion to $64.4 billion.

Merck also cut its adjusted earnings forecast to a spread of $7.72 to $7.77 per share, from a previous forecast of $7.94 to $8.04 per share. This updated outlook reflects a one-time charge of 24 cents per share related to business development agreements with Curon Biopharmaceutical and Daiichi Sankyo.

Shares of Merck fell nearly 3% on Thursday.

Here's what Merck reported for third quarter in comparison with Wall Street expectations based on an analyst survey by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.57 adjusted vs. $1.50 expected
• Revenue: $16.66 billion versus expected $16.46 billion

Merck posted third-quarter net income of $3.16 billion, or $1.24 per share. In comparison, net income within the year-ago period was $4.75 billion, or $1.86 per share.

Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, Merck earned $1.57 per share within the three-month period.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $16.66 billion, up 4% from the identical period last 12 months.

The findings come as Merck is making significant progress in preparing for Keytruda's patent expiration in 2028. Losing exclusive rights to the drug will likely result in a decline in sales and force the corporate to attract revenue from other sources.

Merck has a handful of latest deals and major drug launches in its books that can help it offset those losses. This includes Winrevair, a drug approved within the US in March to treat a progressive and life-threatening lung disease.

And Capvaxive, a vaccine designed to guard adults against a bacteria called pneumococcus that could cause serious illness and lung infections, was approved within the U.S. in June.

The company's pipeline of late-stage drugs has nearly tripled up to now three years or so to greater than 20 unique products, Merck CEO Rob Davis said during a conference call Thursday.

He said this may result in a major variety of drug and vaccine launches over the following five years, most of which have “blockbuster-plus potential”. Blockbuster drugs generate a minimum of $1 billion in annual sales.

Merck's pharmaceutical division, which develops a big selection of medication, posted third-quarter sales of $14.94 billion, up 5% from the identical period last 12 months.

The company's immunotherapy drug Keytruda posted revenue of $7.43 billion within the quarter, up 17% from the year-ago period. Analysts had expected Keytruda sales of $7.33 billion, based on StreetAccount estimates.

This increase was as a result of higher uptake of Keytruda in early-stage cancers and powerful demand for the drug against metastatic cancers that spread to other parts of the body.

Gardasil had sales of $2.31 billion. Merck said the decline was primarily as a result of lower demand in China in comparison with the identical period last 12 months. This was partially offset by higher sales within the US

That's below the $2.51 billion analysts were expecting, based on StreetAccount.

Davis said the corporate is “heavily focused” on the China market and is moving forward with its commercialization partner Zhifei to extend Gardasil promotional and patient education efforts.

“We expect these efforts will result in increased patient activation and demand, but as we said, this will take time,” Davis said.

Davis said Merck was confident in Gardasil's long-term prospects on condition that lower than 10% of the eligible population worldwide has been vaccinated. The company expects to succeed in its goal of world Gardasil sales of $11 billion by 2030.

After approval in March, Winrevair reported third-quarter revenue of $149 million. Analysts had expected sales of $127 million.

About 1,700 people received a Winrevair prescription through the quarter, bringing the full number of latest patient prescriptions for the reason that drug's launch to three,700, Merck CFO Caroline Litchfield said through the call. The company estimates that about 80% of those patients receive the actual drug.

The company's type 2 diabetes drug Januvia posted sales of $482 million, down 42% from the identical period last 12 months. Merck said the decline was primarily as a result of lower drug prices within the U.S. in addition to competition from generics in several countries.

According to StreetAccount, analysts had expected sales of $610 million.

Januvia is one in every of 10 drugs which are the topic of ongoing Medicare pricing negotiations, a policy geared toward making expensive drugs more cost-effective for seniors. Those price talks, a key provision of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, will end in early August.

Sales of Merck's antiviral Covid pill Lagevrio also fell 40% to $383 million within the quarter.

However, based on StreetAccount, this beat analysts' expectations with revenue of $124.2 million.

Merck's animal health division, which develops vaccines and medications for dogs, cats and cattle, posted third-quarter sales of $1.49 billion. This is 6% greater than in the identical period last 12 months and is barely above the expectations of analysts surveyed by StreetAccount.

Bristol Myers Squibb on Thursday reported Third-quarter profits and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations because of blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis and a portfolio of Drugs It expects long-term growth.

The pharmaceutical giant also raised its full-year sales forecast and expects sales to extend by around 5%. Bristol Myers previously said it forecast revenue growth within the “high end” of low single digits.

The company also raised its adjusted 2024 earnings forecast to 75 cents to 95 cents per share, up from a previous forecast of 60 cents to 90 cents per share.

The results come as Bristol Myers seeks to chop costs by $1.5 billion by the top of 2025 and put that cash into key drug brands and research and development programs. The company said in April that this could include shedding greater than 2,000 employees, shutting down some drug programs and consolidating its locations, amongst other things.

The company's shares rose greater than 4% on Thursday.

Here's what Bristol Myers reported for the third quarter in comparison with Wall Street's expectations, based on an LSEG analyst survey:

• Earnings per share: $1.80 adjusted vs. $1.49 expected
• Revenue: $11.89 billion versus expected $11.28 billion

Bristol Myers had third-quarter net income of $1.21 billion, or 60 cents per share. By comparison, net income within the year-earlier period was $1.93 billion, or 93 cents per share.

Excluding certain items, the corporate reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.80 for the quarter.

The pharmaceutical giant's sales rose 8% to $11.89 billion in comparison with the identical period last 12 months.

The increase is on account of Eliquis and the corporate's so-called growth portfolio, which incorporates a cancer drug called Opdivo. However, sales were partially offset by leukemia drug Sprycel, which faces generic competition on account of its lack of exclusivity.

The company is preparing to offset lost sales of top-selling drugs which are expected to lose market exclusivity, including Eliquis, Opdivo and Revlimid, a blood cancer drug.

Sales of Eliquis could also take a success in 2026 when a brand new price for the drug goes into effect for certain Medicare patients after negotiations with the federal government. The first round of those price negotiations, a key provision of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, was accomplished over the summer.

Notably, through the quarter, the Food and Drug Administration approved Bristol Myers Squibb's highly anticipated schizophrenia drug Cobenfy. It is the primary novel treatment for the debilitating, chronic mental disorder in greater than seven a long time.

Eliquis reported revenue of $3 billion within the quarter, up 11% from the identical period last 12 months. That was above the $2.84 billion analysts had expected, in accordance with StreetAccount estimates.

The blood thinner Bristol Myers shares Pfizeris anticipated to lose its market exclusivity by 2028.

Revlimid posted revenue of $1.41 billion, down 1% from the identical period last 12 months. That beat analysts' revenue expectations of $1.11 billion for the treatment, in accordance with StreetAccount.

Revenue from the corporate's growth portfolio was $5.8 billion within the third quarter, up 18% from the identical period last 12 months.

This was driven partially by higher demand for anemia drug Reblozyl, which brought in $447 million within the third quarter, up 80% from the identical period last 12 months. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the treatment to usher in $435 million in sales.

Advanced melanoma treatment Opdualag, lymphoma treatment Breyanzi and Camzyos, a drug for certain heart diseases, also helped boost growth portfolio sales within the third quarter, the corporate said.

According to StreetAccount, Breyanzi and Camzyos posted revenue above analysts' expectations, while Opdualag fell wanting estimates.

Opdivo posted third-quarter revenue of $2.36 billion, up 4% from the identical period last 12 months. This was below analysts' estimate of $2.41 billion for the quarter, in accordance with StreetAccount.

Meanwhile, Abecma, a cell therapy for a rare blood cancer called multiple myeloma, posted revenue of $124 million within the quarter. Analysts had expected sales of $110 million.

Walgreens reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted profit on Tuesday that beat Wall Street's expectations as the corporate cut costs to emerge from the difficult situation.

The retail drugstore chain also said it plans to shut about 1,200 stores over the subsequent three years, including 500 in fiscal 2025 alone. The company said these closures would have an “immediate positive impact” on its adjusted earnings and free money flow.

Walgreens has around 8,700 locations within the USA, 1 / 4 of which is unprofitable.

These closures will give Walgreens a “healthier store base” and “allow us to respond to changes in consumer behavior and purchasing preferences,” the corporate's CEO Tim Wentworth said during an earnings call on Tuesday. He added that Walgreens intends to maintain the vast majority of employees affected by the closures employed, even though it is unclear what number of employees could lose their jobs.

The company's shares closed greater than 15% higher on Tuesday.

The results cap a difficult 2024 fiscal yr for Walgreens, which is scuffling with pharmacy reimbursement pressures, weaker consumer spending and challenges related to its push into primary care, amongst other issues. The company said Tuesday that it exceeded its goal of $1 billion in cost savings in fiscal 2024. These included closing underperforming stores, shedding employees and using artificial intelligence to make the provision chain more efficient.

Most of the advantages of cost reductions were seen in the corporate's U.S. retail pharmacy segment, Walgreens CFO Manmohan Mahajan said through the call.

In June, Walgreens said it planned to shut a “significant” variety of its underperforming stores by 2027. Tuesday's announcement appears to be the corporate's first accurate estimate of what number of locations it’ll close.

Here's what Walgreens reported for the three-month period ended Aug. 31, in comparison with Wall Street's expectations based on an LSEG analyst survey:

• Earnings per share: 39 cents adjusted versus 36 cents expected
• Revenue: $37.55 billion versus expected $35.76 billion

Walgreens reported revenue of $37.55 billion within the quarter, up 6% from the identical period last yr.

The company reported a net lack of $3 billion, or $3.48 per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter. This reflects a so-called valuation allowance intended to cut back the corporate's deferred tax assets, primarily related to opioid settlements.

That compares with a net lack of $180 million, or 21 cents per share, within the year-ago period.

Excluding certain items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were 39 cents per share.

Fourth-quarter and full-year results “reflect our disciplined execution of cost management, working capital initiatives and capital expenditure reductions,” Wentworth, who took the role nearly a yr ago, said in a news release.

The company's forecast for fiscal yr 2025 was in keeping with analysts' expectations. Walgreens expects growth in its U.S. healthcare and international segments, offset by a decline in its retail pharmacy segment.

The company is in a “multi-year process of realigning our relationship” with pharmacy profit managers, who negotiate drug discounts on behalf of health plans and reimburse pharmacies for prescribed drugs, Wentworth said through the call. Walgreens hopes this may help improve margins in its pharmacy business.

Walgreens expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.40 to $1.80 for the approaching fiscal yr. According to LSEG, analysts forecast adjusted earnings of $1.75 per share.

The company also expects revenue of $147 billion to $151 billion for the yr. Wall Street analysts estimate sales at $147.3 billion.

Walgreens reported growth across its three business units in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Sales at the corporate's U.S. healthcare division jumped to $2.11 billion, up 7.1% from the identical period last yr.

Analysts had expected sales of $2.10 billion, in accordance with StreetAccount estimates.

This reflects, partially, the expansion of primary care provider VillageMD and specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions. Shields' revenue rose 27.8% within the period, which the corporate attributed to growth in existing partnerships.

Specialty pharmacies are designed to produce medications with unique handling, storage and distribution requirements, often for patients with complex diseases reminiscent of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Notably, Walgreens posted a big net loss in its fiscal second quarter as the corporate took a big charge of nearly $6 billion related to the decline in the worth of its investment in VillageMD. In August, the corporate said in a securities filing that it was considering selling the provider.

Walgreens' U.S. pharmacy segment generated revenue of $29.47 billion within the fiscal fourth quarter, up 6.5% from the identical period last yr. Analysts had expected sales of $28.09 billion, in accordance with StreetAccount estimates.

This segment operates the Company's drugstores, which sell prescription and over-the-counter medications, in addition to health and wellness, beauty, personal care and grocery products.

Walgreens said pharmacy sales increased 9.6% and comparable pharmacy sales increased 11.7% within the quarter in comparison with the identical period last yr, due partially to cost inflation for brand-name drugs.

The total variety of prescriptions filled this quarter, including vaccines, was 302 million, up 1.7% from the identical period last yr. In particular, declining reimbursement rates for prescribed drugs reduced pharmacies' margins, the corporate said.

Retail sales fell 3.5% in comparison with the identical quarter last yr, and comparable retail sales fell 1.7%. The company cited, amongst other things, a “challenging” retail environment.

Walgreens' international unit, which operates greater than 3,000 retail stores abroad, reported sales of $5.97 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter. This is a rise of three.2% in comparison with the identical period last yr.

Analysts expected revenue of $5.81 billion for the period, in accordance with StreetAccount.

The company said sales at its UK-based drugstore chain Boots rose 2.3%.

Modern reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss on Thursday as the corporate's cost-cutting efforts took effect and sales of its Covid vaccine, its only commercially available product, beat estimates.

The results come as Moderna gets closer to launching one other product that’s urgently needed as demand for Covid vaccinations falls worldwide. The biotech company expects U.S. approval for its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine on May 12. If approved, vaccination is predicted to occur within the third quarter.

Shares of Moderna closed greater than 12% higher on Thursday following the outcomes.

Here's what Moderna reported for the primary quarter in comparison with Wall Street's expectations, based on an analyst survey from LSEG:

• Loss per share: $3.07 versus an expected lack of $3.58
• Revenue: $167 million versus expected $97.5 million

“On the [operating expenses] “On the company side, we've made great progress,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said of the cost cuts on CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Thursday. He added that the biotech company's team “has done an excellent job in resizing the corporate.”

Moderna posted first-quarter revenue of $167 million, with Covid vaccination revenue falling about 90% compared to the same period last year. The company reported revenue of $1.86 billion in the same period last year.

About $100 million came from the U.S., while $67 million came from international markets, primarily in Latin America, Moderna CFO Jamey Mock said in an interview with CNBC.

The company said the decline in sales was partly due to the expected transition to a seasonal Covid vaccine market, where patients typically get their vaccinations in the fall and winter.

Moderna posted a first-quarter net loss of $1.18 billion, or $3.07 per share. That compares with net income of $79 million, or 19 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

The company reiterated its full-year 2024 revenue forecast of about $4 billion, including revenue from its RSV vaccine. Specifically, Moderna expects only $300 million of these sales to occur in the first half of the year, as respiratory virus season is typically in the second half of the year.

The second quarter will include part of the company's recently announced deal with Brazil to supply 12.5 million Covid vaccines, executives said during a conference call on Wednesday.

Moderna has said it expects to return to revenue growth in 2025 and reach breakeven with new product launches by 2026.

For the first quarter, Mock said the company was “more encouraged by what we're seeing from a productivity perspective” than by the higher sales of its Covid vaccine.

Cost of sales was $96 million in the first quarter, down 88% from the same period last year. This includes, among other things, $30 million in write-downs on unused doses of the Covid vaccine and $27 million in charges related to the company's efforts to reduce its manufacturing footprint.

Research and development costs fell 6% to $1.1 billion in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2023. This decline was primarily due to fewer payments to partners in 2024 and lower clinical development and manufacturing costs, including lower clinical trial expenses for the company's Covid, RSV and seasonal flu vaccinations.

Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses fell 10% to $274 million in the period compared to the first quarter of 2023. SG&A expenses typically include the costs of advertising, selling, and providing a company's products and services.

The company said the decline was partly due to its investments in “digital business capabilities” and increased focus on using AI technologies to streamline operations.

Last month, Moderna announced a partnership with artificial intelligence heavyweight OpenAI that aims to automate nearly every business process at the biotech company.

Mock told CNBC that Moderna has been working with OpenAI for a year. He added that 60 to 70% of the company currently uses an AI chatbot for work.

Moderna has so far managed to boost investor sentiment about its post-Covid approach. Its shares have risen more than 10% this year as confidence in its pipeline and messenger RNA platform, the technology used in Covid vaccinations, has increased.

The biotech company currently has 45 products in development, some of which are in late-stage testing. This includes the combination vaccination against Covid and the flu, which could be approved as early as 2025.

Moderna is also developing, among other things, a stand-alone flu vaccination, a personalized cancer vaccine with Merck and vaccinations against latent viruses.

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty told lawmakers Wednesday that an estimated one-third of Americans' data could have been compromised within the cyberattack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary and that the corporate paid a $22 million ransom to hackers.

Witty testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which is under the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He said the investigation into the breach was still ongoing, so the precise number of individuals affected was not yet known. The figure of 1 third is a rough estimate.

UnitedHealth has previously said the cyberattack likely affected a “significant portion of the people of America,” in line with one April release. The company confirmed that the breach compromised files containing protected health information and private data.

It will likely be months before UnitedHealth is in a position to notify individuals given the “complexity of data review,” the discharge said. The company offers free access to identity theft protection and credit monitoring to people concerned about their data.

Witty also testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, confirming for the primary time that the corporate had paid a $22 million ransom to the hackers who hacked Change Healthcare. At the hearing before House Democrats later that afternoon, Witty said the payment was made in Bitcoin.

UnitedHealth announced that a cyber threat breached a part of Change Healthcare's information technology network in late February. The company shut down the affected systems when the threat was identified, and the disruption has had far-reaching consequences across the U.S. healthcare sector.

Witty told the subcommittee in his written testimony that the cyberattackers used “compromised credentials” to infiltrate Change Healthcare's systems on Feb. 12 and nine days later deployed ransomware that encrypted the network.

The portal that the attackers originally accessed was not protected by multifactor authentication (MFA), which requires users to confirm their identity in at the least two alternative ways.

Witty told each committees Wednesday that UnitedHealth now has MFA in all external systems.

Alaska Airlines on Thursday forecast second-quarter and full-year earnings well above estimates, with executives forecasting a powerful peak travel season despite a first-quarter loss attributed to a burst door plug on an almost recent Boeing 737 Max 9 in mid-air January was due.

Alaska received $162 million from Boeing for the Jan. 5 accident, which led to the Federal Aviation Administration briefly grounding the planes. Alaska said it expects additional compensation from the manufacturer.

The Seattle-based airline lost $132 million, or $1.05 per share, in the primary quarter, compared with a net lack of $142 million, or $1.11 per share, a yr earlier.

The accident has tightened regulators' scrutiny of Boeing and slowed deliveries of recent Max planes, whose foremost customer is Alaska. Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci backed Boeing during Thursday's earnings release, but reiterated that he doesn't expect Boeing to satisfy its plan to deliver planes to the airline this yr.

“We remain committed partners, but we will hold Boeing to the highest standards of factory quality, and to that end we have enhanced our personal oversight of our 737 production line,” Minicucci said.

“Alaska [Airlines] “Needs Boeing, our industry needs Boeing and our country needs Boeing to be a leader in aircraft manufacturing,” he said.

Minicucci told CNBC's “The Exchange” on Thursday that he was “encouraged” after Boeing leadership visited Alaska's offices in Seattle on Monday to explain the manufacturer's quality improvement plan.

Boeing's safety crisis has drawn criticism from lawmakers and customers. Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said last month he would step down at the end of the year, part of a broader restructuring at the manufacturer amid frustration expressed by airline CEOs.

Leading airlines say the resulting delays due to quality issues at Boeing have led to schedule changes. Minicucci said Alaska is taking the delays into account to “deliver a schedule with the high level of service and reliability that our guests have come to expect and know from us.”

Alaska forecast adjusted earnings per bunny between $2.20 and $2.40, above the $2.12 expected by analysts polled by LSEG. For 2024, the airline expects earnings of between $3.25 and $5.25 per share, well above the average of $4.36.

Shares of Alaska rose 4% to close at $44.44 on Thursday.

delta And United have also forecast that strong travel demand for 2024 will boost results this spring and summer.

Alaska reported first-quarter revenue of $2.2 billion, barely ahead of the $2.19 billion estimated by analysts surveyed by LSEG and a couple of% higher than a yr earlier. Adjusted for one-time items, Alaska posted a net lack of 62 cents per share within the second quarter, narrower than the $1.05 per share loss that analysts had expected, in accordance with LSEG.

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported First-quarter adjusted earnings beat Wall Street expectations, as did sales Medical equipment business increased.

Meanwhile, the corporate's total revenue through the period was largely in step with estimates.

J&J's medtech division offers surgical, orthopedic and vision devices. The company is benefiting from a recovery in demand for non-urgent surgeries amongst older adults, who’ve postponed these procedures through the Covid pandemic. This increased demand has been observed by health insurers Humana, UnitedHealth Group and Elevance Health.

J&J CFO Joseph Wolk told CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Tuesday that customers could also be pulling back in other areas but “don't want to compromise when it comes to their health, their mobility and their ability to “to live a fulfilled life.” He added that the company has seen increased caseloads due to Covid and “has not seen any regression from this”.

Here's what J&J reported for First quarter compared to Wall Street expectations based on an analyst survey by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.71 adjusted vs. $2.64 expected
• Revenue: $21.38 billion versus expected $21.4 billion

J&J's financial results are considered benchmarks for the entire healthcare sector.

The company reported total revenue of $21.38 billion for the first three months of 2024, up more than 2% from the same quarter in 2023.

The pharmaceutical giant reported net income of $5.35 billion, or $2.20 per share, for the quarter. That compares with a net loss of $491 million, or 19 cents per share, in the year-ago period. At that time, J&J recorded costs related to its talc baby powder liabilities and the spinoff of its consumer health division Kenvue.

Excluding certain items for the first quarter of 2024, adjusted earnings per share were $2.71.

J&J also cut its full-year guidance. The company now expects sales of $88 billion to $88.4 billion. That compares with a previous forecast of $87.8 billion to $88.6 billion.

J&J expects adjusted earnings of $10.57 to $10.72 per share. This compares to a previous forecast of $10.55 to $10.75 per share.

Separately, J&J said Tuesday that it will increase its quarterly dividend is $1.24 per share, up 4.2% from $1.19 per share. This is the 62nd consecutive year of dividend increases for the company, it said. The dividend is payable on June 4th.

The results come weeks after J&J's whopping $13.1 billion acquisition of the cardiac device maker Shockwave Medical – part of its push into the cardiovascular space. Both companies said the deal will make J&J the market leader in four fast-growing cardiovascular technology categories.

J&J has acquired two other cardiac device companies in the past two years, spending $16.6 billion to buy Abiomed and $400 million to acquire privately held Laminar.

These deals are also aimed at strengthening J&J's medical device business following the company's separation from its consumer health division Kenvue last year.

J&J's medical device business generated first-quarter revenue of $7.82 billion, up more than 4% from a year ago. According to StreetAccount estimates, Wall Street expected sales of $7.87 billion.

J&J said the Abiomed acquisition fueled the year-over-year increase. Growth was also driven by electrophysiology products that assess the heart's electrical system and help doctors understand the cause of cardiac arrhythmias, J&J said.

Wound closure products and devices for orthopedic trauma or severe injuries to the skeletal or muscular system as well as contact lenses contributed to this.

Meanwhile, J&J reported pharmaceutical sales of $13.56 billion, up about 1% year over year. Excluding sales of its unpopular Covid vaccine, sales in the pharmaceutical division rose almost 7%.

It was the fourth quarter excluding U.S. sales of J&J's Covid vaccine, which brought in $25 million in international sales.

According to StreetAccount, analysts expected revenue of $13.5 billion for the business segment. Also known as “Innovative Medicine,” the company focuses on developing drugs for various disease areas.

The company said the growth was driven by sales of Darzalex, a biologic used to treat multiple myeloma, and Erleada, a treatment for prostate cancer. J&J's Carvykti, a cell therapy approved for a type of blood cancer, and other oncology treatments also contributed to the increase.

But sales of the company's blockbuster drug Stelara, used to treat several chronic and potentially disabling diseases such as Crohn's disease, were relatively flat in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

Stelara had revenue of $2.45 billion in the quarter. Wall Street expected sales of $2.61 billion.

J&J began losing patent protection for Stelara late last year, allowing cheaper biosimilar competitors to enter the market. But the company has signed settlement agreements with Amgen and other drugmakers to delay the launch of some Stelara copycats until 2025.

J&J's first-quarter results come amid investor concern over tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company's talc-based products were contaminated with the carcinogen asbestos and caused ovarian cancer and several deaths.

These products, which include J&J's eponymous baby powder, now fall under Kenvue. However, J&J assumes all talc-related liabilities arising in the United States and Canada.

Notably, a federal judge ruled in March that J&J can challenge scientific evidence linking its talc products to ovarian cancer, potentially disrupting a federal court case consolidating 53,000 lawsuits.

Wolk on Tuesday called that ruling a “very significant development” and said the evidence presented against J&J was “junk science.” However, he noted that it was difficult to provide a timeline for when the company would find a comprehensive resolution to the ongoing litigation.

In January, J&J said it had reached a preliminary agreement solve one Investigation from greater than 40 states in allegations that the corporate misled patients about it Security of its talc-based products. The company pays $700 million to settle the investigation, its chief financial officer Joseph Wolk said said the Wall Street Journal by the point.

Last yr, J&J provided about $400 million to resolve U.S. states' consumer protection claims.

Notably, the settlement doesn’t resolve the lawsuits, a few of that are scheduled to go to trial later this yr.

J&J will hold a conference call with investors on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET.