July 16 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) reported

second-quarter profit and raised its full-year sales forecast by

around $2 billion on Wednesday as strong demand for its cancer

drug, Darzalex, and strength in its medical device business

helped it beat Wall Street expectations.

On an adjusted basis, the drug and medical device maker

earned $2.77 per share for the quarter, above analysts'

expectation of $2.68 per share, according to data compiled by

LSEG.

Sales in the quarter were $23.74 billion, above analysts'

expectation of $22.84 billion.

The company said it now expects full-year sales in the range

of $93.2 billion to $93.6 billion, up from its April forecast of

$91 billion to $91.8 billion. Analysts on average had estimated

sales of $91.5 billion for the year.

It cited strong operational performance in the quarter as

well as the stronger dollar for the increase.

J&J said in April that it was expecting $400 million in

costs related to tariffs, mostly in the company's medical device

business, starting from the second quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk said in an interview

that the company had now reduced that estimate to $200 million

due to the pause on U.S. tariffs on China and other retaliatory

tariffs.

"We were able to absorb that and still raise our EPS

guidance by 25 cents on the year," Wolk said.

He said the company was not ready to forecast the impact of

tariffs on 2026.

"It's such a fluid environment that we'll just have to wait

and see," he said.

On an adjusted basis, J&J expects to earn $10.80 to $10.90

per share in 2025, compared with its previous forecast of $10.50

to $10.70 per share.

Quarterly sales for the medtech unit rose 6.1% to $8.5

billion.

Darzalex, a blood cancer therapy launched in 2015, brought

in second-quarter sales of $3.54 billion, compared with

analysts' expectation of $3.38 billion.