Abbott Laboratories 4Q Sales Grow, Outlook Underwhelms

By Connor Hart

Abbott Laboratories logged higher fourth-quarter sales and said its acquisition of Exact Sciences remains on track to close in a timely manner, though its organic sales growth outlook for the year underwhelmed investors.

The company, which sells a range of medical products including heart devices and generic drugs, on Thursday posted a profit of $1.78 billion, or $1.01 a share. That compares with $9.23 billion, or $5.27 a share, in last year's comparable quarter, which included a $7.2 billion tax benefit.

Stripping out one-time items, earnings came in at $1.50 a share, in line with the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet.

Sales rose 4.4% to $11.46 billion, below the $11.8 billion that Wall Street had forecast.

Medical device sales jumped 12%, while sales across the company's established pharmaceuticals business rose 9%. The increases were slightly offset by nutrition and diagnostics sales across, which fell 8.9% and 2.5%, respectively.

Chief Executive Robert Ford said Abbott's new product pipeline was highly productive last year, and that the company took steps towards shaping its future. The company in November agreed to acquire cancer-diagnostics company Exact Sciences in a deal valued at about $21 billion, as it looks to compete in the burgeoning market for multicancer early-detection tests.

Abbott said it continues to expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2026.

"We're well positioned for accelerating growth in 2026," Ford said.

For the year, Abbott forecast organic sales growth in the range of 6.5% to 7.5%, the midpoint of which missed Wall Street models for 7.3%. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in between $5.55 and $5.80 a share, compared with analyst views for $5.67 a share.

Shares fell 5%, to $114.75, in premarket trading.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2026 08:23 ET (13:23 GMT)