Abbott sells a leading Covid-19 at-home antigen test, the BinaxNOW, above.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Abbott Laboratories reported earnings and sales Wednesday for the fourth quarter of the 2021 fiscal year that beat Wall Street estimates, and issued guidance for the full 2022 fiscal year that was in line with consensus estimates.
Abbott’s (ticker: ABT) sales for the fourth quarter were $11.5 billion, up 7.2% on a reported basis from the same quarter in 2020, and better than the $10.7 billion FactSet analyst consensus estimate.
Adjusted diluted earnings for the quarter were $1.32 per share, beating the $1.21 FactSet analyst consensus estimate. Abbott said that it expects adjusted diluted earnings of at least $4.70 per share in 2022, roughly in line with the FactSet analyst consensus estimate of $4.78.
Abbott sells a leading Covid-19 at-home antigen test, the BinaxNOW; the Department of Defense announced in early January a $306 million contract with Abbott to supply an undisclosed number of the kits to the federal program to mail test kits to Americans’ homes. Abbott didn’t break out fourth-quarter sales of the BinaxNow, but said that testing-related sales were $2.3 billion for the quarter.
The company said its current 2022 guidance includes estimated testing sales of $2.5 billion, but that it expects those sales to come early in the year, and that it will update the forecast each quarter.
Abbott shares were down 0.6% in premarket trading Wednesday. S&P 500 futures were up 1.4%.
“2021 was an outstanding year for Abbott,” said Abbott CEO Robert Ford in a statement. “We achieved more than 40 percent EPS growth, exceeding the baseline EPS guidance we set at the beginning of last year and, importantly, continued to advance our new product pipeline across the portfolio.”
Abbott reported $2 billion in fourth-quarter sales for its nutrition division, up 5.5% on a reported basis, $4.5 billion in fourth-quarter sales for its diagnostics division, up 2.9% on a reported basis, $1.2 billion in fourth-quarter sales for its established pharmaceuticals division, up 4.9% on a reported basis, and $3.7 billion in fourth-quarter sales for its medical devices division, up 15.1%.
The company attributed the growth in medical device sales to the easing of the pandemic, and growth in its diabetes care business.
Abbott will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per share.
The company is hosting an investor call at 9 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday.
Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
