J&J Gears Up for Drug Deals

Johnson & Johnson's fourth-quarter earnings update on Tuesday was less a showcase for its (pretty good) numbers than an organized forum for analysts to badger executives about its M&A plans.

That tends to happen when a company is sitting on nearly $39 billion in cash and short-term investments. J&J won't stay on the sidelines this year. It pledged to be active and expects half of its growth to come from M&A. A struggling device business might seem the most obvious candidate, but the company might double down on its booming pharmaceutical business instead.