What's going on?

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) revealed on Tuesday that it sold $1.6 billion worth of vaccines last quarter, so the controversy-hit healthcare giant must be glad it didn�t throw away its shot.

What does this mean?

J&J � which reported its quarterly results on Tuesday � has had its fair share of hiccups in the rollout of its one-shot vaccine, but the company surged back to make more than half of its 2021 vaccine sales in the last quarter alone. It sold more of its other medications too, which helped its drugs division grow by 17% last quarter versus the same time the year before. Not all its businesses were so lucky, mind you: revenue from its medical devices and consumer health businesses barely grew, which pushed up its overall revenue by a weaker-than-expected 10%.

Why should I care?

For markets: J&J wants to get back in the good books.

J&J�s consumer health division � which brought in just 16% of the company�s revenue across the whole of 2021� is by far its slowest-growing segment, which might be why the company�s planning to spin off the division into its own business. That should allow the firm to focus on its drugs and medical devices segments instead, as well as on winning investors back on side. Better late than never: J&J�s stock has underperformed the US stock market by 16% over the past year.

Zooming out: Splits are in vogue.

General Electric is planning to break up its business too, and the conglomerate�s quarterly update on Tuesday was a perfect example why: the company posted a $3.9 billion loss � a big drop from the $2.4 billion profit it made the same time in 2020 � on the back of supply chain disruptions and rising materials costs. General Electric�s outlook for the year came in worse than expected too, which might be why investors sent its shares down 8%.