Diversified healthcare company Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has been performing recently like there's no recession. The Abbott Park, Ill.-based company is expected to earn between 87 cents and 90 cents per share in the second quarter following a first quarter where its net profit margin was 21.41%.
The company's steady growth is predicated on its targeted dealmaking that propelled it to be the first winner of The Deal's Most Admired Corporate Dealmaker healthcare award in 2008. So, what does Abbott Labs have in store for the market on its second-quarter earnings announcement before market open on Wednesday?
The usual steady growth, as First Call predicts that earnings range of 87 cents to 90 cents per share on revenue of $7.31 billion to $7.5 billion. Those numbers will top first-quarter earnings of 73 cents per share on revenue $7.1 billion.
"Strategically, they have made some good choices by targeting growth areas and finding technologically strong or innovative assets within them," Martha Freitag, an analyst with Argus Research Co., told The Deal last year.
The addition of Guidant's vascular business in 2006 gave Abbott the drug-eluting stent Xience V, which will be looked upon to buoy second-quarter earnings along with an increase in sales of arthritis treatment Humira, Seeking Alpha reports.
Abbott Lab's most recent deal was a $2.8 billion acquisition in January for Advanced Medical Optics Inc. Meanwhile, the company is in the running for the auction of Solvay Pharmacuticals SA of Belgium.
If Abbott's earnings come in on target, the pharma should be well on its way toward fulfilling the prediction it made a couple of months ago when it said it expects double-digit earnings per share growth for 2009. - Gerald Magpily
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