Abbott Posts Lower 3Q Profit, Despite Higher Sales

By Connor Hart

Abbott reported higher sales in the latest quarter, though profit fell as operating costs and expenses increased.

The healthcare company on Wednesday posted a third-quarter profit of $920 million, or 53 cents a share, down from $1.64 billion, or 94 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, earnings came in at $1.42 a share, in line with the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet.

Net sales climbed more than 14%, to $13.01 billion, just topping Wall Street models for $12.99 billion.

Sales across Abbott's nutrition business rose 5.1% to $2.26 billion. The company separately on Wednesday announced plans to carve out its nutrition unit into an independent company, housing brands such as Pedialyte electrolyte beverages and Similac infant formula.

Diagnostics sales jumped 47% to $3.31 billion. Sales across the company's established-pharmaceuticals and medical-device businesses were up 6.8% and 6.9%, respectively.

Total operating costs and expenses rose 25% to $11.66 billion, in part reflecting higher input costs as well as research-and-development spending.

Chief Executive Robert Ford said the quarterly results reflect balanced growth across the company's portfolio. "With strong performance across multiple businesses and a robust pipeline of innovation, we are well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth in the years ahead," he added.

For the year, Abbott expects adjusted earnings to come in between $5.50 and $5.55 a share on comparable sales growth of about 6%. The company had previously guided for adjusted earnings of $5.45 to $5.60 a share on comparable sales growth of 6.5% to 7.5%.

The company additionally guided for adjusted earnings of $1.62 to $1.67 a share in the current quarter, compared with analyst views for $1.64 a share.

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

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October 21, 2026 08:31 ET (12:31 GMT)