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Key Takeaways
- Abbott Laboratories stock fell in intraday trading Wednesday as investors reacted to a first-quarter earnings report that beat expectations, but included current-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) guidance mostly below estimates.
- Lower demand for COVID testing dragged down sales in Abbott’s diagnostics division by 17.6% compared to the prior-year quarter.
- Medical devices posted a 14.2% sales increase from Q1 2023, the biggest percentage gain among company units.
Shares of Abbott Laboratories ( ABT ) fell in intraday trading Wednesday, with second-quarter guidance seeming to outweigh first-quarter results that beat analyst estimates.
Key first-quarter metrics narrowly beat consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, with $9.96 billion in sales and $1.73 billion in adjusted net income , or 98 cents per share , surpassing expectations of $9.9 billion, $1.67 billion, and 95 cents per share, respectively.
The company has been expecting declines in COVID testing demand, and reported a 17.6% decrease in diagnostics unit sales compared with the first quarter of last year. Worldwide COVID testing sales were $204 million in the quarter, down from $730 million in Q1 2023.
Medical devices were the biggest source of growth from the same quarter last year, with sales up 14.2%, compared with increases of 5.1% and 3.1% for Abbott’s nutrition and pharmaceutical sectors, respectively.
Abbott’s adjusted EPS for the full fiscal year was narrowed to between $4.55 to $4.70 from a prior range of $4.50 to $4.70, surrounding analyst expectations of $4.62. Second-quarter guidance of $1.08 to $1.12 is mostly below the consensus $1.12.
“Our first-quarter results reflect a strong start to the year, and we are raising our full-year sales and EPS guidance,” Abbott Chief Executive Officer (CEO ) Robert B. Ford said. “This was the fifth consecutive quarter that we delivered double-digit organic sales growth in our underlying base business, which included particularly strong results in Medical Devices and Established Pharmaceuticals.”
Abbott Labs became one of the largest COVID testers during the pandemic, and also manufactures a variety of healthcare devices and pharmaceuticals , while being one of the largest producers of baby formula in the U.S.
Abbott stock slipped 3% to $106.05 at around 2 p.m. ET Wednesday.