What's going on?

Dry your eyes, Johnson & Johnson: the pharmaceutical giant announced better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

What does this mean?

Both Johnson & Johnson�s (J&J�s) revenue and profit beat investors� expectations, rising 27% and 73% respectively from the same time last year. More than half that revenue growth came from a strong rebound in the company�s medical devices unit, which took a thumping last year as the pandemic forced hospitals to postpone surgeries.

J&J�s pharmaceutical segment � the biggest of its businesses � should be getting a boost too: the pharma giant said it was expecting $2.5 billion in sales from its single-shot vaccine in 2021. That�d be a remarkably strong finish to the year given that the vaccine only generated $164 million last quarter, but the company�s gone all in on the estimate: it upped its growth outlook for both its total revenue and profit this year.

Why should I care?

For markets: Repeat after us: cancer bad.
Curing coronavirus is both ethically responsible and commercially shrewd, sure, but J&J would do well to remember that giving people cancer isn�t: the company recently had to recall its sunscreens after they were found to be contaminated with a carcinogen. And the last thing J&J needs is another fine, with the company already expected to reach an agreement to pay $5 billion to different US states over its role in the opioid crisis.

The bigger picture: Delta�s your captain now.
J&J�s anticipated $2.5 billion in sales is a drop in the ocean compared to how much Pfizer and Moderna�s shots � which are in much wider use � are expected to make. And even that revenue stream could be derailed if US production troubles keep hobbling the vaccine�s rollout, or if the highly contagious delta variant � now dominant in many countries around the world � ends up reducing the shot�s effectiveness, as plenty of experts are worried it�ll do.