Abbott Q4 Profit Meets View; Sees Q1 Below Market, Growth In FY25 - Update

(RTTNews) - Abbott Laboratories (ABT), while reporting higher fourth-quarter profit, in line with market, on Wednesday issued outlook for its first quarter below the Street. The company also issued fiscal 2025 view, expecting growth.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, Abbott shares were losing around 0.9 percent to trade at $115.72.

For the first quarter, the company projects adjusted earnings per share of $1.05 to $1.09.

The Wall Street analysts on average expect the company to report earnings of $1.12 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Further, for fiscal 2025, Abbott projects adjusted earnings per share of $5.05 to $5.25, which reflects double-digit growth at the midpoint, from last year's adjusted earnings per share of $4.67. The Street is looking for earnings of $5.16 per share for the new year.

Abbott projects full-year adjusted operating margin to be 23.5 percent to 24.0 percent of sales, which reflects an increase of 150 basis points at the midpoint compared to 2024.

Organic sales growth is expected to be in the range of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent.

In fiscal 2024, the company's sales were $42.0 billion, with organic sales growth for the underlying base business of 9.6 percent.

For the fourth quarter, Abbott's bottom line totaled $9.229 billion or $5.27 per share, compared to $1.594 billion or $0.91 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings were $2.349 billion or $1.34 per share for the period. Analysts had expected the company to earn $1.34 per share.

The company's revenue for the period rose 7.2 percent to $10.974 billion from $10.241 billion last year. The Street expected sales of $11.03 billion. Sales increased 8.8 percent on an organic basis, and 10.1 percent on an organic basis, excluding COVID-19 testing-related sales.

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