Abbott's ABT diversified business portfolio is well-positioned to drive continued momentum in 2025. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) currently.

Factors Driving ABT Shares

Abbott’s Diabetes Care business continues to benefit from the growing sales of its flagship, sensor-based continuous glucose monitoring system, FreeStyle Libre. In a relatively short span, FreeStyle Libre has achieved global leadership among continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for both Type 1 and Type 2 users.

In the third quarter, Diabetes Care sales of CGM exceeded $1.6 billion and grew 21%. In August, the company announced that it had entered into a unique global partnership with Medtronic to connect Abbott's FreeStyle Libre CGM sensor with Medtronic’s automated insulin delivery systems.

Abbott continues to expand its Diagnostics business foothold (consisting of 22.6% of the total revenues in the third quarter of 2024). On a global scale, Abbott currently holds a prominent position in point-of-care testing, with a portfolio focused on four key areas — Infectious Disease, Cardiometabolic & Informatics, Toxicology and Consumer Diagnostics. In rapid and point-of-care diagnostics businesses, the company is successfully expanding its test menus and is also capitalizing on the growing demand for respiratory tests that can be performed at home or in more traditional healthcare settings.

Within Abbott’s Established Pharmaceuticals Division (EPD) business, the company is also strategically progressing with its advancement in biosimilars. Abbott, leveraging on its leading presence in emerging markets, is enjoying a unique opportunity to scale a licensing model that is capital-efficient and can bring access to these life-changing medicines to the emerging market population. The company agreed to commercialize several biosimilars in the areas of oncology and women’s health in 2023. The first round of commercialization is on track for 2025. The company is highly optimistic about this initiative considering the fact that biosimilars represent the highest growth segment in the branded generic pharmaceutical market.

Abbott Laboratories Price

Abbott Laboratories price | Abbott Laboratories Quote

Over the past three months, shares of ABT have gained 2.6% against the industry’s 2.2% decline. The company’s consistent efforts to expand in high-growth areas, as well as its array of new product launches are expected to help the stock to continue with its uptrend in the coming days.

Concerns Remain for Abbott

The challenging macroeconomic scenario in the form of the ongoing complex geo-political situation globally, specifically where Abbott operates, is driving a higher-than-anticipated increase in raw materials and freight expenses. These could also result in broader economic impacts and security concerns, affecting the company’s business in the upcoming months. Industrywide, it has been seen that the deteriorating global economic environment is reducing demand for several MedTech products, resulting in lower sales and lower product prices while increasing the cost of goods and operating expenses of the businesses of the MedTech companies.

In the third quarter, Abbott incurred a 2.1% increase in the cost of products sold (excluding amortization expense). Selling, general and administration expenses were up 6.3% year over year.

Foreign exchange is a major headwind for Abbott due to a considerable percentage of its revenues coming from outside the United States. The strengthening of the euro and some other developed market currencies has constantly been hampering the company’s performance in the international markets. In the third quarter of 2024, foreign exchange had an unfavorable year-over-year impact of 2.5% on sales.

Other Key Picks

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Penumbra PEN, Haemonetics HAE and ResMed RMD, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Penumbra’s shares have risen 10.5% in the past year. Estimates for the company’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) have jumped 0.7% to $2.81 in the past 30 days. PEN’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed on one occasion, the average surprise being 10.54%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of 23.19%.

Estimates for Haemonetics’ fiscal 2025 EPS have remained constant at $4.59 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have lost 3.6% in the past year against the industry’s growth of 17.3%. HAE’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, the average surprise being 2.82%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 2.75%.

Estimates for ResMed’s fiscal 2025 EPS have increased 2.5% to $1.61 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have surged 113.5% in the past year compared with the industry’s 17.3% growth. RMD’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 25.47%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 52.17%.

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