Abbott (NYSE:ABT) shares are up today on first-quarter results ahead of the consensus forecast, with the company sticking by its full-year adjusted EPS projection.
The Abbott Park, Illinois-based company posted profits of $2.4 billion, or $1.37 per share, on sales of $11.9 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2022, for a 36.5% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 13.8%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.73, 27¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $11 billion.
Each of Abbott’s segments, bar nutrition, grew in revenue year-over-year, with diagnostics skyrocketing by 31.7% as global COVID-19 testing-related sales totaled $3.3 billion in the first quarter.
Medical device revenues increased by 7.4% from the first quarter of 2021, with diabetes care (14.9% growth), heart failure (14.2%) and electrophysiology (12.6%) performing best in that arm. Neuromodulation (3.1% dip) and vascular (–2.6%) were the only parts of Abbott’s medical device business that saw revenues slide.
Abbott’s Established pharmaceuticals rose by 7.1%, while nutrition dipped by 7%.
“Our diversified business continues to perform well in a challenging environment,” Abbott Chair and CEO Robert B. Ford said in a news release. “We’re particularly pleased with the strong performance we’re achieving in medical devices and established pharmaceuticals.”
Abbott’s projection of full-year adjusted EPS of $4.70 remains unchanged. The company anticipates approximately $4.5 billion in revenues related to COVID-19 testing in 2022, with the bulk of that coming in the first half of the year, the company said.
ABT shares were up more than 3% at $123.61 apiece by midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up slightly.