EPS Growth Super Heavyweights Amgen (AMGN) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) are ready to fight for a spot in your portfolio.
About EPS Growth Heavyweights
EPS Growth Heavyweights is a novel screening system that ranks the earning growth history of over 700 stocks each month. Companies with more than 10 years of available earnings data are ranked into one of the following five weight classes:
- Super Heavyweight
- Heavyweight
- Heavyweight Contender
- Middleweight
- Lightweight
We are essentially screening for companies with consistent quarterly adjusted TTM EPS growth that looks like our logo… Up and to the right.
For more information visit us at epsgheavyweights.com.
This Heavyweight Bout has been created as a fun way to expose readers to our rankings, charts and data. We plan to have more bouts in the future and look forward to taking requests from followers. So without any more delay… Let’s see how these two earnings growers match up in the fight for a spot in your portfolio.
EPS Growth Heavyweights Bout 1 – AMGN vs. JNJ
These two companies achieved their EPS Growth Super Heavyweight rankings by growing their quarterly adjusted Trailing Twelve Month Earnings Per Share (TTM EPS) more than 90% of the time over the past 25 years.
The scorecard below has been created using data from our most recent Earnings Per Share Growth Heavyweights spreadsheet. Each month our subscribers receive this data for all the stocks in the DOW30, S&P500, Nasdaq100 and TSX Composite indexes.
We have selected some of the most significant data points to create an entertaining 12 Round Toe-to-Toe Contest.
Recap:
Rounds 1-2 were draws because both companies meet the requirement of being ranked as Super Heavyweights.
Rounds 3-4 have to go to AMGN. This is because JNJ had a stumble and slipped below the 90% Super Heavyweight threshold. Don’t worry, we are not concerned about JNJ losing their title.
Rounds 5-10 all went to AMGN purely by the numbers. In reality most categories are within a reasonable margin of error making them a virtual draw.
Round 12 went to JNJ with a Market Cap more than three times that of AMGN. That being said some investors may prefer a lower value thinking there’s more room for growth.
Decision: While the scorecard tilts in AMGN’s favor this bout is still too close to call.
Round 13: The Charts
It wasn’t an accident that we selected two evenly matched opponents for our first Earnings Per Share Growth Heavyweight bout. This gives us the opportunity to showcase more of the free data we compile each month for epsgheavyweights.com visitors. Click here to go directly to our searchable online charts.
Now… let’s have a look at our latest charts for AMGN and JNJ containing 25yrs of historical earnings, price and PE data up to December 31st, 2022…
AMGN has a beautiful chart that really illustrates why it is an EPS Growth Super Heavyweight. The purple adjusted TTM EPS line is up and to the right over long term.
JNJ’s chart is equally impressive with only a slight visible dip in the TTM EPS line during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both companies have proven to have resilient earnings power through the three recession bars in our graphs. In fact investors who bought either company in the 2008 great recession or 2020 COVID dip have been rewarded. Unless something drastic happens to their business models we should be able to count on this EPS growth to continue.
Round 14: Other Considerations
Dividend History – JNJ is a Dividend King, Aristocrat and Champion having earned these titles by raising its dividend for 60 consecutive years. In comparison AMGN’s streak currently sits at 13 years.
Upcoming Events – JNJ will be spinning off it’s Consumer Health Care products into a new company to be called Kenvue (pronounced ken·view). You can read more at this link on the JNJ website:
Above are just two examples of simple but important research investors should be doing before making investment decisions. At EPS Growth Heavyweights we feel strongly that a company’s ability to consistently grow earnings is also an important consideration. That’s why we are making it so easy for long term self directed investor to find these companies.
And The Winner Is
If you made it this far you will not be surprised that our conclusion is this bout is a “Draw”. Both these Super Heavyweights have proven themselves with long histories of growing their earnings per share. Either company would make a great addition in the Health Care portion of any diversified portfolio.
We hope you have enjoyed this article. If you have two stocks you would like us to compare in a future Heavyweight Bout leave us a reply in the comment section below or…
Email us at info@epsgheavyweights.com