Abbott (NYSE:ABT) posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings today and upped its full-year projections.
The Abbott Park, Ill.-based healthcare giant reported profits of $1.232 billion or 98¢ per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2020, led by a whopping 38.2% increase in global diagnostics sales and a 27% sales jump for diabetes care devices. Analysts had projected EPS of 90¢.
Medical device sales were up 3.4% worldwide to $3.17 billion. Overall diagnostics sales hit $6.46 billion, with rapid diagnostics accounting for $1.965 billion of that total.
Sales of the FreeStyle Libre diabetes system grew 37.9% in the quarter, which ended with its third-generation system winning the CE Mark in the EU.
COVID-19 continued to have a dampening effect on sales of certain cardiovascular and neuromodulation devices. Sales of structural heart devices dropped by 9.7% to $630 million globally during the quarter, while neuromodulation device sales fell 7.7% to $206 million. Cardiac rhythm management device sales dipped by 5.7% to $507 million.
Abbott is projecting full-year 2020 diluted EPS of at least $3.55, up from its July projection of $3.25 per share.
Other milestones during the quarter included:
- July 6 — Abbott announced that it received FDA clearance for its next-generation Gallant implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) devices.
- July 13 — Abbott and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) announced that they had agreed to settle all outstanding patent disputes related to transcatheter mitral and tricuspid repair products, and that Edwards had made an one-time payment of $368 million to Abbott.
- July 23 — Abbott announced FDA approval for the use of its Patient Controller app to manage its Infinity DBS system, Proclaim XR SCS system or Proclaim DRG neurostimulation system on compatible Apple smartphone devices.
- In late August, the FDA granted an emergency use authorization for Abbott’s BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card — a speedy antigen test for the virus that can be directly read off the testing card. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services struck a $750 million deal with Abbott for 150 million of its rapid COVID-19 antigen tests.
- Sept. 1 — Abbott announced that its next-generation FreeStyle Libre 2 iCGM is now available to Medicare patients.
- Sept. 3 — Abbott started the LIFE-BTK investigational device exemption (IDE) trial in the U.S. for its Espirit BTK everolimus-eluting resorbable scaffold system. The device is intended to treat below-the-knee blocked arteries or critical limb ischemia (CLI) in people battling advanced stages of peripheral artery disease (PAD).
- Sept. 21 — Abbott announced that it received CE Mark approval in Europe for MitraClip G4, the latest installment of the company’s transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) system.
- Sept. 28 — President Donald Trump announced the U.S. government started shipping 100 million of Abbott’s rapid COVID-19 tests to states to support school reopenings and more.
- Sept. 30: The government of Canada announced that it agreed to buy up to 7.9 million ID NOW rapid point-of-care COVID-19 tests, although the purchase hinged on Health Canada authorization for the diagnostics.
“Our strong results and increased guidance are a direct reflection of our ability to innovate and deliver despite challenging conditions,” said Abbott president & CEO Robert Ford in a news release. “Our new product pipeline continues to be highly productive, and we’re well-positioned to finish the year with a lot of momentum.”
Abbott’s results support Needham’s view that most medical device companies are likely to beat consensus in Q3 due to a stronger than expected rebound in procedures, according to analyst Mike Matson. “We expect medical device market growth to show further improvement in 4Q20 and most markets are likely to grow on a Y/Y basis in our view albeit still below normal levels,” he added.
Shares in ABT were down 2.27% to $105.9 apiece at mid-morning today, compared with today’s Medtech 100 Index of $94.47