Abbott Laboratories Profit Grows 54%

By Tess Stynes 

Abbott Laboratories said its fourth-quarter earnings soared as the company posted stronger revenue in its nutrition and diagnostics businesses, although currency fluctuations weighed on sales growth.

Abbott has been realigning its business in a series of deals. Last year Abbott reached an agreement to shed a portion of its generics pharmaceuticals business to Mylan Inc., a transaction that punctuated a recent trend of health-care mergers-and-acquisitions driven in part to seek tax advantages.

Abbott's other moves last year included its acquisition of Russian drug maker Veropharm, a $250 million deal to acquire medical-device maker Topera Inc and a deal to sell its animal health business to Zoetis Inc.

Overall, Abbott reported a profit of $905 million, or 59 cents a share, up from $589 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, earnings rose to 71 cents from 58 cents. Revenue increased 5.6% to $5.36 billion, but excluding currency fluctuations, sales grew by 10%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of 68 cents and revenue of $5.42 billion.

Excluding currency impacts, sales rose 8.9% in Abbott's nutrition segment and increased 8.6% in the diagnostics business.

For the current quarter, the company projected per-share earnings of 41 cents to 43 cents, while analysts expected 41 cents.

For 2015, Abbott forecasted per-share earnings of $2.10 to $2.20. Analysts expected per-share profit of $2.14.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

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