Abbott (NYSE:ABT) beat the consensus forecast today for both its bottom and top lines during the first quarter.
The Chicago-area healthcare giant posted profits of $682.0 million, or 38¢ per share, on sales of $7.54 billion for the three months ended March 31, for a bottom-line gain of 60.8% on sales growth of 2.0% compared with Q1 2018.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 63¢, 2¢ ahead of the consensus on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for revenues of $7.47 billion.
“We’re right on track with our expectations to start the year,” chairman & CEO Miles White said in prepared remarks. “All of our key long-term growth drivers are performing well and we’re targeting another year of strong sales and earnings growth.”
Abbott said that its medical devices division posted sales of approximately $2.9 billion, up 5.5% compared with its performance during the first quarter of 2018.
The company’s diabetes care division saw the largest reported boost in sales for the quarter, up 34.4% to $566 million.
Sales growth in the division was led by its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system, which saw an increase of 70.2% to $379 million.
The cardiovascular and neuromodulation biz, Abbott’s largest in its medical devices division, reported sales of approximately $1.12 billion, up 0.2% compared with Q1 of 2018.
Abbott’s heart failure business reported sales of $184 million, up 20.9% over the same quarter during the previous year.
Within the cardio and neuromod division, Abbott reported growth of 10.3% for its structural heart business, with sales of $324 million, and growth of $9.8% for its electrophysiology business, with sales of $429 million.
Abbott’s neuromodulation division saw sales drop 9.6% to $233 million, while its rhythm management saw sales shrink 8.5% to $490 million. The company’s vascular division reported sales that shrunk by 4.1% compared with Q1 of 2018, at $709 million.
The company said it expects to post adjusted EPS of $3.15 to $3.25 this year and 79¢ to 81¢ for the second quarter.
ABT shares closed down -1.5% at $76.38 apiece yesterday. Today, shares in the company are down approximately 4%, at $73.31 as of 1:47 p.m. EDT.
