Abbott ticks up on Q3 beat, despite slumping device sales

Abbott (NYSE:ABT) shares ticked up today after the company reported a 3rd-quarter sales beat fueled by stronger demand from emerging markets for its generic drugs business, but sales dropped more than -7% for its medical device business compared with Q3 2015.

Abbott posted profits of $580 million, or 38¢ per share, on sales of $5.15 billion for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, for a bottom-line gain of 7.8% on sales growth of 1.4%.

Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 54¢, a penny ahead of the consensus forecast on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $5.14 billion.

“Despite currency headwinds, we are on track to deliver the financial commitments we set at the beginning of the year,” chairman & CEO Miles White said in prepared remarks. “Our underlying growth is strong and we continue to see robust demand in emerging markets.”

Generic drug sales rose 24.6% to $961 million, contributing about 19% to total sales. The picture was worse for the medical device business, which was down -7.4% to $1.23 billion due to an -8.6% hit from the strong dollar. Vascular sales were off -7.8% at $672 million, followed by medical optics at$283 million, a -5.3% decline. Diabetes sales were off -8.4% at $275 million, Abbott said.

Abbott narrowed its earnings guidance for 2015, saying it now expects to post adjusted EPS of $2.14 to $2.16, compared with prior guidance of $2.10 to $2.20.

ABT shares were up 1.9% to $42.53 apiece today in early trading.

Material from Reuters was used in this report.

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