A double beat in its latest quarter made Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) stock a popular item on Wednesday. The encouraging (if not spectacular) results pushed the storied healthcare company's share price up by almost 4%, which contrasted positively with the 1.4% slide of the S&P 500 index on the day.

Johnson & Johnson revealed that its second-quarter sales came in at slightly over $22.4 billion, representing a more than 4% improvement on a year-over-year basis. The healthcare giant's non-GAAP (adjusted) net income also rose, although less steeply, by almost 2% to $6.8 billion ($2.82 per share).

Both results topped the average-analyst expectations. Collectively, prognosticators tracking Johnson & Johnson stock were modeling a bit over $22.3 billion on the top line, filtering down into an adjusted net-income figure of $2.72 per share.

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Source Fool.com