Abbott (NYSE:ABT) posted earnings per share that were in-line with expectations for the 4th quarter and its 1st full year without its branded pharmaceuticals business, but another revenue miss for the healthcare giant pushed shares down this morning.*
Abbott posted profits of $89.0 million, or 37¢ per share, on sales of $5.66 billion for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2013, for sales growth of 0.4%. Excluding results from AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), the branded pharma spinout, quarterly profits were $981.0 million, or 58¢ per share, in line with consensus expectations on Wall Street and representing bottom-line growth of 19.8%.
Full-year profits were $2.58 billion, or $1.62 per share, on sales of $21.85 billion, for sales growth of 1.6%. Absent contributions from AbbVie, profits were $3.19 billion, or $2.01 per share, in line with The Street’s $2.01 expectation and 15.3% above 2012. The AbbVie split, announced in 2012, became official Jan. 1, 2013.
But the 4th-quarter sales number was below the $5.72 billion threshhold The Street was looking for, marking Abbott’s 4th consecutive quarterly sales miss. That pushed ABT shares down 0.3% in pre-market trading to $39.00 apiece this morning.
"In 2013, despite some challenges, we achieved our expectations for earnings growth, including more than 100 basis points of operating margin expansion," chairman & CEO Miles White said in prepared remarks. "In 2014, we are targeting another year of double-digit ongoing earnings-per-share growth."
Abbott said it expects to report adjusted EPS of $2.16 to $2.26 this year.
*Correction, Jan. 22, 2014: This article originally mis-reported Abbotts adjusted earnings per share for 2013. Return to the corrected sentence.
