Johnson & Johnson lowers full-year sales forecast, shares fall

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson lowered its sales forecast for 2018 on Tuesday, citing a strengthening dollar.

Shares of the Dow component fell 1 percent to $123.45 in premarket trading. They have dropped 10.7 percent this year.

The healthcare conglomerate said it expects full-year sales of $80.5 billion to $81.3 billion, compared with a prior range of $81.0 billion to $81.8 billion.

J&J said it now expects adjusted earnings of $8.07 to $8.17 per share, compared with an earlier forecast of $8.00-$8.20 per share.

Analysts had expected full-year profit of $8.12 per share and sales of $81.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net earnings rose to $3.95 billion, or $1.45 per share, in the second quarter, from $3.83 billion, or $1.40 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $2.10 per share, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.07.

Sales rose to $20.83 billion from $18.84 billion.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)