Johnson & Johnson rides strong prescription sales in 1Q

Johnson & Johnson beat Wall Street's modest expectations despite a 0.6 percent decline in first-quarter profit, as higher sales of new prescription drugs and other key medicines nearly offset a big hit from the strong dollar.

The maker of Band-Aids, prescription medicines and medical devices reported adjusted profit, which excluded amortization and restructuring costs, of $1.68 per share.

Restrained production costs and lower sales, marketing and administrative expenses largely drove the earnings beat, Credit-Suisse analyst Vamil Divan wrote to investors.

Sales of prescription drugs, J&J's biggest unit, jumped 5.9 percent to $8.18 billion, driven by higher sales of immune disorder drugs Remicade, Simponi and Stelara, and Xarelto for preventing heart attacks and strokes, plus sales of new blood cancer drug Imbruvica.

Even excluding the effects of exchange rates, four of the six product categories — baby products, women's health, skinin care and wound care — still posted lower sales.