53.76% is the trailing-year return Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) carried into Jim Cramer's Tuesday dip-buy call on CNBC's Squawk on the Street, where he urged viewers to step into a 2.33% mid-session drop to $268.82. That gain exceeds both NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) at 32.63% and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) at 32.32% by more than 20 percentage points, the same two names Cramer positions as JNJ's tech counterparts. The stock hit an all-time high last week and is up 31.99% year to date.
| Ticker | 1-year return (reported) | YTD (reported) |
|---|---|---|
| JNJ | 53.76% | 31.99% |
| NVDA | 32.63% | 22.06% |
| AAPL | 32.32% | 16.59% |
The selloff was real. JNJ dropped alongside Amgen, off 7.6%, Bristol Myers Squibb, down 3.1%, and the health care ETF XLV, off 1.9%. On August 27, Cramer told a viewer holding Alphabet, NVIDIA, and Apple to add JNJ as their health care counterweight.
What Cramer said and what the data shows
Cramer tied the call to the Psych Congress conference in New Orleans, running September 15-19. He said he would buy JNJ "because they've got something for schizophrenia" and told viewers the company "will reveal some documents about how Caplyta is doing versus manias." Johnson & Johnson had already published that release. At 8 a.m. ET on September 8, hours before the segment aired, the company put out a full neuropsychiatry data readout spanning bipolar mania, depression, and schizophrenia at Psych Congress 2026.
One indication note. Spravato, which Cramer highlighted, is approved for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder with suicidal ideation. Caplyta is the schizophrenia and bipolar depression asset, acquired via the April 2025 Intra-Cellular Therapies deal. On the Q2 call, management said new Caplyta patient starts were up 122% versus prior year, with 70.9% growth for the franchise.
The business behind the call
Q2 2026 worldwide sales reached $25.3 billion, up 5.6% operationally, with Innovative Medicine contributing $16.4 billion. Oncology led: Darzalex sales exceeded $4 billion and Tremfya reached $2 billion, growing 71% YoY. CEO Joaquin Duato raised the full-year 2026 outlook to projected reported sales of $101.1 billion at the midpoint and projected reported EPS of $11.60 to $11.75. Q1 2026 revenue of $24.06 billion beat consensus by 1.89%, per the company's Q1 2026 8-K, with adjusted EPS of $2.70 against the $2.68 expected.
JNJ paid its $1.34 quarterly dividend on September 8, what management calls the 64th consecutive year of dividend increases. The forward catalyst calendar includes the Icotide readout in psoriatic arthritis, the Caplyta bipolar mania readout, and the Enterprise Business Review on December 8, 2026, where management is expected to detail the planned Orthopaedics separation.
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