From [HERE] Greater demand for medical devices, drugs and consumer-health products helped boost sales and profit for Johnson & Johnson JNJ 1.06% in the latest quarter, a sign people are returning for healthcare services they deferred earlier in the pandemic.

Sales of J&J’s medical devices climbed 63% year over year, the company said Wednesday. Higher sales of the company’s skin-care and beauty products helped lift J&J’s consumer-health revenue by 13% compared with a year earlier.

The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company, a bellwether for the healthcare industry because its products span several categories, logged sales of $23.31 billion—a 27% increase year over year—and adjusted earnings of $2.48 a share.

Wall Street analysts had forecast adjusted earnings of $2.29 a share and revenue of $22.49 billion, according to FactSet.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson were largely flat Wednesday.

J&J executives expressed confidence the return to healthcare use would continue, saying they didn’t expect the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus would have an impact.

“Our outlook for the rest of the year really remains strong for our sector regardless of what happens with emerging variants and any continued blips as it relates to Covid,” said Jennifer Taubert, who runs J&J’s pharmaceuticals business.

Ashley McEvoy, J&J’s medical devices chief, said hospitals appear better than earlier in the pandemic at handling any surges in Covid-19 cases while keeping elective surgeries going. Yet she said some hospitals in the U.S. are beginning to delay elective procedures as Covid-19 cases mount.

The company raised its guidance for full-year performance. J&J forecast sales of $93.8 billion to $94.6 billion and adjusted earnings of $9.60 to $9.70 a share, up from the maximums from its previous forecast of $91.6 billion and $9.57 a share.

J&J said sales of its Covid-19 vaccine, which generated $164 million in revenue in the second quarter, would pick up during the latter parts of the year. The shot should notch $2.5 billion in revenue for the year, most of it in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk said.