Abbott stock reversed early losses Wednesday, shrugging off a "middling" quarter, on its strong sales outlook for 2025 and a bullish fourth-quarter performance from its diabetes devices.
For the full year, Abbott Laboratories expects sales to grow 7.5% to 8.5% on an organic basis, topping projections for 7.3% growth, BTIG analyst Marie Thibault said in a note. The company also projects $5.05 to $5.25 in adjusted earnings per share, bracketing the Street's projection for $5.16.
She expects "this outlook reflects the typical Q1 cadence of seasonally stronger spending as well as greater Fx headwinds than currently modeled by the Street," she said. "While ABT shares may trade off this morning on the headline results, we think the underlying strength in Device sales and ability to offset Fx pressures on the P&L is notable."
Abbott stock rose 0.9% to 117.78.
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Edward Jones analyst John Boylan described the quarter as "middling," noting fourth-quarter sales from the nutrition, diagnostic and pharma divisions all missed expectations. Exchange rates likely had a role to play in the lagging sales, he said in a client note.
Sales of medical devices "did better than the consensus view, but not by a large amount," he said. Medical devices, Abbott's biggest business segment, grew 14% to $5.05 billion. Analysts projected a slightly lower $4.97 billion. But that included 20.6% sales growth for Abbott's diabetes devices.
Notably, sales of Abbott's continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, surged 22.8%. Abbott is known best for its Freestyle Libre, which monitors glucose levels for people with diabetes. But the company also recently launched its Lingo device in the U.S. Lingo is tailored for people who don't have diabetes, but want to know more about their metabolic health.
Across all products, sales grew 10.1% organically, excluding the impact of Covid test sales. Abbott generated $10.97 billion in sales, below forecasts for $11.03 billion, according to FactSet. The firm earned an adjusted $1.34 per share, meeting expectations and up 12.6% year over year.
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