JNJ Stock Growth Hides Shift from STELARA Drag

Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) stock has risen 53% over the past year, but beneath the surface, the company is undergoing a fundamental shift. The growth rate of JNJ's underlying business is being obscured by the drag from one product: STELARA, an immunology blockbuster losing patients to biosimilars.

According to Trefis, worldwide sales grew 5.6% in the second quarter of 2026 on an operational basis, which strips out currency fluctuations. This figure absorbs a 460 basis point headwind from STELARA's decline, but the drag is getting lighter: it was about 540 basis points in the first quarter of 2026.

The gap between the headline rate and the underlying one narrows as STELARA gets smaller, even before factoring in potential contributions from newer pipeline assets. TREMFYA is now the share leader in new patient starts for inflammatory bowel disease, with 58% of IL-23 inductions in ulcerative colitis and over 50% in Crohn's disease.

The second quarter was strong enough that management raised its full-year guidance, lifting adjusted operational earnings per share by $0.18 at the midpoint. However, the MedTech segment fell short of expectations, with cardiovascular growth held back by a China inventory dynamic and Abiomed declining 2% due to caution over a neutral clinical trial in the U.K.