Johnson & Johnson Stock (JNJ) Near Record Highs: Earnings Momentum, Spin‑Off Plans and Talc Risks in 2025

Published: November 29, 2025 – This article is for information only and is not financial advice.

JNJ stock today: a mega‑cap back in the spotlight

Johnson & Johnson stock (NYSE: JNJ) is ending November 2025 right up against its all‑time territory. As of the latest close on November 28, 2025, JNJ finished at $206.92, just below its 52‑week high of $207.81 set on November 26. ^[1]

At that level, J&J is worth roughly $500 billion and has:

YTD gain: about 43–47% in 2025 depending on the source
Last 3 months: roughly +17.6%, versus about +5.1% for the S&P 500 over the same period
Last 12 months: around +34–38%, again comfortably ahead of the index ^[2]

In other words, the classic “boring” healthcare blue chip has quietly turned into a market‑beating momentum story in 2025.

What’s new on November 29, 2025? The freshest JNJ headlines

Several pieces of coverage in the last 48 hours help explain why Johnson & Johnson stock is getting so much attention right now:

Outperforming the S&P 500:
A new analysis from Barchart highlights that JNJ is only slightly below its recent high and has outpaced the S&P 500 by a wide margin over the past three and twelve months. It notes year‑to‑date gains of 43.5%, with the stock trading above both its 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages since early July – classic “strong uptrend” technicals. ^[3]
Oncology‑driven growth story:
A Zacks/Nasdaq piece published November 28 says J&J’s oncology sales grew 20.6% (operational basis) in the first nine months of 2025 to $18.5 billion, now about 27% of total company revenue. Management is openly targeting $50 billion in oncology sales by 2030, backed by new drugs like Darzalex, Carvykti, Rybrevant, Tecvayli and the recently approved bladder cancer therapy Inlexzoh/TAR‑200. ^[4]
Valuation call: still undervalued?
Simply Wall St, in an article dated today, argues that after an 11.2% surge over the past month and about 38% total return over the past year, JNJ still screens as undervalued. Their discounted cash flow model suggests a “fair value” roughly 46% above the current share price (around $380+ per share), and they note a trailing P/E of ~19.9x, below what their model calls a “fair” multiple. ^[5]
Analysts stay broadly positive:
MarketBeat and TipRanks data show JNJ carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from around two dozen analysts, with Scotiabank recently reiterating JNJ as a top pick. The averaged 12‑month price target sits around $196–$203 per share, meaning the stock has already traded above the mean target, but some analysts are higher while others stay cautious. ^[6]
Dividend‑focused coverage:
Multiple Motley Fool pieces this week feature Johnson & Johnson as one of “3 Superb Dividend Stocks to Hold for the Next 20 Years” and among four favorite dividend stocks for the next five years, citing its balance‑sheet strength, diversified portfolio, and ultra‑reliable payout. ^[7]

Taken together, the newest commentary paints JNJ as a rare combination of defensive dividend giant and growth‑via‑innovation story, with the share price now reflecting that narrative more aggressively than it did earlier in the year.

2025 earnings: three strong quarters and higher guidance

The rally in Johnson & Johnson stock is not happening in a vacuum. It’s being driven by plain‑vanilla fundamentals: revenue growth, margin expansion, and upgraded guidance.

Q3 2025: beats and a guidance bump

On October 14, 2025, J&J reported Q3 2025 results that beat expectations: ^[8]

Revenue: about $24.0 billion, up 6.8% year‑over‑year and ahead of consensus
Reported EPS:$2.12, nearly doubling from $1.11 a year earlier
Adjusted EPS:$2.80, beating the $2.76 consensus and growing about 15–16% year‑over‑year

Management also raised full‑year 2025 sales guidance to roughly $93.5–$93.9 billion, up from prior forecasts, while keeping EPS guidance midpoint around $10.85. ^[9]

Both the Innovative Medicine (pharma) and MedTech segments delivered mid‑single‑digit to high‑single‑digit growth, with standout contributions from: Darzalex, Carvykti, Erleada and Tremfya on the pharma side, and cardiovascular/surgical technologies and Abiomed/Shockwave within MedTech. This strength offset a steep 41% year‑over‑year decline in Stelara sales as biosimilar competition ramped up. ^[10]

Q1 and Q2 2025: setting up the run

Earlier in the year:

Q1 2025: Adjusted EPS of $2.77 and revenue of $21.89 billion both beat expectations. J&J raised its 2025 sales outlook into the low‑$90 billions and reaffirmed its EPS range. ^[11]
Q2 2025: Revenue climbed 5.8% to $23.7 billion, ahead of estimates, though adjusted EPS of $2.29 came in a little below consensus. MedTech outperformed, and the company flagged robotic system Ottava for an FDA submission target in fiscal 2026, reinforcing its long‑term surgical pipeline. ^[12]

From a shareholder’s perspective, 2025 is shaping up as a year of steady high‑single‑digit top‑line growth and mid‑teens EPS growth, powered by pharma and MedTech rather than consumer products.

Spin‑offs and portfolio reshaping: DePuy Synthes and the “new J&J”

Post‑Kenvue, Johnson & Johnson is already a simpler, more focused business. But it’s not done reshuffling.

Orthopaedics spin‑off: DePuy Synthes goes solo

In October, the company formally announced plans to spin off its orthopaedics division, DePuy Synthes, into a separate, publicly traded company. ^[13]

Key points from that plan:

DePuy Synthes generates over $9 billion in annual sales and accounted for roughly 9.5% of Q3 revenue, but grew only about 2–3% year‑over‑year, well below the broader MedTech segment. ^[14]
The separation is expected to take 18–24 months to complete, echoing the timeline used for the Kenvue consumer‑health spin‑off. ^[15]
Once it’s gone, “new J&J” will lean even harder into higher‑growth, higher‑margin areas: Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular, Surgery and Vision – the six “priority areas” management keeps flagging. ^[16]

In plain terms, J&J is stripping out its slowest‑growing orthopaedics business and re‑betting the house on complex drugs and devices. Barron’s and the AP both noted that the spin‑off comes after a roughly 30%+ run in the stock price in 2025, suggesting that investors like the idea of a more concentrated pharma/MedTech giant. ^[17]

Mega‑deals in neuroscience and oncology

On top of spin‑offs, J&J has spent 2025 writing large cheques:

Intra‑Cellular Therapies (CNS/neuroscience):
In January, Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy Intra‑Cellular Therapies, maker of Caplyta (lumateperone) for schizophrenia and bipolar depression, in a $14.6 billion deal – one of the largest biotech acquisitions of the year. The deal closed in early April 2025. ^[18]
- Caplyta just won expanded FDA approval this month as an add‑on treatment for major depressive disorder, potentially opening a new multibillion‑dollar market. ^[19]
Halda Therapeutics (oncology):
In November, Reuters reported that J&J will acquire privately held Halda Therapeutics for $3.05 billion in cash, adding novel RiPTAC‑based targeted cancer therapies, including a lead prostate‑cancer candidate. ^[20]

Couple these deals with the oncology update from Zacks – where J&J’s cancer sales doubled from 2019 to 2024 and could more than double again by 2030 – and you get the core of the bull case: JNJ is increasingly an oncology and neuroscience powerhouse rather than the old‑school diaper‑and‑bandage conglomerate. ^[21]

The talc litigation overhang hasn’t gone away

For all the excitement about oncology and dividends, there’s a persistent ghost at J&J’s feast: talc‑related lawsuits.

A rough April: bankruptcy plan rejected

In March–April 2025, a Texas bankruptcy court rejected Johnson & Johnson’s latest attempt to resolve tens of thousands of talc cases via a subsidiary bankruptcy and an $8–10 billion global settlement plan. This was J&J’s third failed attempt to channel talc claims through bankruptcy. ^[22]

Coverage from Reuters, AP, and legal analysts highlighted that:

The bankruptcy judge found problems with the voting and solicitation process and questioned whether the case was filed in good faith. ^[23]
J&J said it would abandon the bankruptcy strategy and return to the normal tort system to fight what it calls “meritless” claims, reversing around $7 billion in reserves linked to the shelved plan. ^[24]
The stock fell roughly 5% in a day, dipping into the mid‑$150s after the ruling, before recovering in subsequent months. ^[25]

Lawsuits, verdicts and the new FDA twist

As of late 2025, talc litigation remains a multi‑decade overhang:

Law‑firm trackers estimate tens of thousands of active talc lawsuits, spearheaded by claims that asbestos‑contaminated talc products caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. ^[26]
Individual verdicts have ranged from single‑digit millions to multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar awards, including several sizeable mesothelioma verdicts that were later reduced or retried on appeal. ^[27]
A Guardian investigation this week reported that the FDA is poised to withdraw a proposed rule that would require asbestos testing for talc‑based cosmetics, a move criticized by health advocates. The article notes that J&J discontinued talc‑based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, but has already paid out billions of dollars and proposed a multi‑billion‑dollar settlement that has not yet been accepted by the courts. ^[28]

From a stock‑valuation standpoint, the message is simple:

Short‑term: The market has largely “looked through” talc news in 2025, judging by the share price recovery.
Long‑term: The ultimate cost of talc – whether resolved case‑by‑case or via some future settlement mechanism – remains uncertain and potentially large. Investors treating JNJ purely as a sleepy bond‑proxy dividend stock are ignoring a very real legal risk.

Dividends: a 63‑year growth streak

If you’re wondering why income investors keep coming back to JNJ despite the noise, the dividend history explains a lot.

In April 2025, Johnson & Johnson raised its quarterly dividend 4.8%, from $1.24 to $1.30 per share, marking its 63rd consecutive annual increase – firmly in “Dividend King” territory. ^[29]
At the current price near $207, that annual dividend of $5.20 per share equates to a yield of around 2.5%. ^[30]
Over the last decade, dividend‑focused databases estimate J&J’s dividend has grown roughly 5–6% per year on average. ^[31]

The company’s own investor materials also stress that it has returned more than 60% of five‑year free cash flow to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, and maintains one of the strongest balance sheets in large‑cap healthcare. ^[32]

Put bluntly: JNJ behaves like a high‑quality bond that occasionally remembers it’s a growth stock. That combo is a big part of the bull case.

Is Johnson & Johnson stock expensive after the rally?

Valuation is where the latest research disagrees a bit – which is exactly what makes a market.

P/E multiples:
- Public.com and other data providers peg JNJ’s current trailing P/E around 20x, with a 52‑week low around $140.68 and the high at $207.81. ^[33]
- Zacks calculates a forward P/E of ~18.2x, modestly above its large‑cap pharma/MedTech peer group at ~17.4x – so a small premium, but not a mania‑level one. ^[34]
Relative vs “fair value”:
Simply Wall St’s model suggests that based on projected cash flows, JNJ could be undervalued by roughly 40–50%, implying a fair value in the mid‑$300s per share. That’s very bullish, but still just one model among many. ^[35]
Analyst targets:
The consensus 12‑month price target sits just under or around $200, and Barchart notes that JNJ has already traded above the mean target (~$203.50). ^[36]

So:

Relative to its own history, JNJ is trading at a higher P/E than in the recent past, but not at tech‑stock extremes. ^[37]
Relative to other big drug/device names, it carries a modest premium, arguably justified by diversification, dividend history, and balance sheet.
Relative to DCF models, opinions range from “fairly valued” to “deeply undervalued,” largely depending on your assumptions about oncology growth and legal costs.

Key risks investors are watching

Even fans of Johnson & Johnson stock tend to flag the same set of big‑picture risks:

Talc and other product liability litigation
We’ve covered talc, but JNJ also faces other ongoing product suits (hips, meshes, opioids in earlier years). Courts have repeatedly blocked its attempts at a quick global settlement. Legal outcomes are uncertain, lumpy and headline‑driven. ^[38]
Patent cliffs and biosimilars
The sharp drop in Stelara sales after loss of exclusivity is a preview of what happens if pipeline execution falters. Oncology and immunology growth needs to more than offset erosion in ageing blockbusters. ^[39]
Execution risk on spin‑offs and M&A
DePuy Synthes must stand on its own two legs, while “core J&J” must integrate Intra‑Cellular and Halda smoothly. Overpaying for deals or stumbling in integration would dent the investment case. ^[40]
Regulatory and pricing pressure
U.S. and global drug pricing reforms, new safety rules (or the lack of them, in the case of talc), and evolving reimbursement systems can all squeeze margins or affect product demand. ^[41]
Macro and interest rates
As a dividend giant, JNJ competes with bonds for income‑seeking capital. If real yields stay high, the relative appeal of a 2.5% dividend can fade, even if the business is rock‑solid.

What the latest JNJ news means for long‑term investors

Putting it all together, here’s the 2025 snapshot of Johnson & Johnson stock:

The good news:
- Strong 2025 earnings, raised guidance, and clear growth drivers in oncology and MedTech. ^[42]
- A 63‑year dividend growth streak, mid‑single‑digit annual raises, and a fortress‑level balance sheet. ^[43]
- Strategic focus sharpened through the Kenvue separation, the upcoming DePuy spin‑off, and targeted M&A in neuroscience and cancer. ^[44]
- Recent analyst and media coverage leaning positive, with multiple outlets framing JNJ as a long‑term core holding for dividend portfolios. ^[45]
The not‑so‑cozy side:
- The talc overhang remains unresolved, and recent court decisions show judges are not eager to rubber‑stamp global bankruptcy solutions. ^[46]
- The stock is no longer cheap on simple metrics after a 40%+ YTD run, and is trading at or above average analyst targets. ^[47]

For investors, the current setup is essentially a trade‑off:

You get one of the most diversified, profitable, and shareholder‑friendly healthcare businesses on the planet, with visible growth engines in oncology and neuroscience, plus a reliable dividend.
You have to accept headline risk and genuine tail‑risk from ongoing talc litigation and the usual drug‑pricing/regulatory uncertainties.