By TOM MURPHY

AP Health Writer

Johnson & Johnson edged Wall Street profit expectations for the fourth quarter but announced a lower-than-expected 2017 forecast and said it would start shopping its diabetes care businesses.

Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it would start seeking a possible sale, joint venture or operating partnerships for LifeScan Inc., Animas Corp. and Calibra Medical Inc. to spark future growth and maximize shareholder value.

The maker of Band-Aids, medical devices and prescription drugs also said it expected full-year adjusted earnings of $6.93 to $7.08 per share on $74.1 billion to $74.8 billion in sales.

Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $7.11 per share on $75.07 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. Shares of the world’s biggest maker of health care products slipped in early morning trading.

For the final quarter of 2016, J&J’s earnings jumped 19 percent to $3.81 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.58 per share.

That topped average analyst expectations by two cents, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The conglomerate also saw revenue climb about 1.7 percent to $18.11 billion in the period, led by growth in consumer products and prescription drugs, its largest business. The total matched Street forecasts.

A surge in beauty product sales helped worldwide sales of the consumer segment grow 3.4 percent to $3.43 billion. Pharmaceutical revenue climbed 2.1 percent to $8.23 billion even though sales of top-seller Remicade slipped.

The biologic immune disorder drug’s revenue dropped 3.3 percent to $1.62 billion in the quarter. Remicade treats rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and colitis and has made tens of billions of dollars for J&J since its 1998 launch. But it is facing competition from Pfizer’s Inflectra, a near-copy of the injected biologic drug.

Shares of the New Brunswick, New Jersey, company slipped $1.16 to $112.75 in premarket trading Tuesday. The company’s shares had climbed around 19 percent in the last 12 months.