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Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) reported Q4 2023 revenue slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations on Wednesday as its Medical Devices business outperformed while all other segments lagged behind.
North Chicago, Illinois-based Abbott (ABT) posted $10.2B in revenue, exceeding Street forecasts by only $50M with just ~1.5% YoY growth for the quarter, while its adj. earnings per share met the consensus.
"The strength and diversity of the Abbott portfolio drove our success in 2023," CEO Robert Ford said ahead of the earnings call at 8 a.m. EST.
With ~18% YoY growth on a reported basis, ABT's (ABT) MedTech business stood out during the quarter, adding $4.4B in sales compared to $4.3B in the consensus, according to Bloomberg data. Its glucose monitoring device, FreeStyle Libre, generated $1.4B in sales with ~26% YoY growth.
However, all other segments fell short of expectations. Its Nutrition segment added $2.0B in sales with ~12% YoY growth as the company reclaimed its previous market-leading position in the baby formula market after the voluntary product recall in 2022.
The Diagnostics segment added $2.5B in sales with a ~23% YoY drop as worldwide COVID-19 testing sales slumped ~73% YoY to $288M. Meanwhile, ABT's Established Pharmaceuticals division generated $1.2B with ~1% YoY growth.
However, excluding COVID-19 testing sales, ABT's organic sales for the underlying base business climbed ~11% and ~12% for Q4 and full year 2023, respectively.
In 2024, the company projects its organic sales growth, excluding COVID-19 testing-related sales, to reach 8.0%–10.0% and adj. earnings per share to stand at $4.50–4.70, compared to high single-digit growth and $4.64 projected by analysts, respectively.
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