(Reuters) -Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday forecast first-quarter profit below Wall Street as weakness in nutrition and diagnostics units overshadowed strength in medical devices, sending its shares down more than 2% in premarket trading.
Fourth-quarter sales in the company’s medical devices unit trumped estimates on the back of its glucose-monitoring products. However, its smaller segments such as nutrition, diagnostics and the unit that sells generic drugs fell short of expectations.
Continuous glucose monitors such as Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre and rivals from DexCom have seen increased demand due to rising diabetes care awareness, bigger insurance coverage and preference for devices that do not need finger pricks.
Abbott’s medical devices unit generated $5.05 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, above analysts’ average estimate of $4.67 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Nutrition sales for the quarter rose 4.5% to $2.13 billion, but missed analysts’ expectations, as it continues to regain market share after facing issues at a manufacturing facility and a recall of its infant formula in 2022.
The pediatric nutrition business has been under the scanner over lawsuits alleging its specialized formula caused babies to develop a dangerous bowel disease called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
There are about 1,000 lawsuits around the issue across the U.S. which have raised alarm from doctors who say the litigation could threaten the formulas’ availability or affect medical decisions.
Overall, Abbott recorded $10.97 billion in sales, compared with estimates of $11.01 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Abbott expects an adjusted profit of $5.05 to $5.25 per share for 2025, compared with analysts’ average profit expectation of $5.16.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported a quarterly profit of $1.34 per share, in line with analysts’ average expectations.
The company expects a first-quarter adjusted profit of $1.05 to $1.09 per share, below analysts’ average estimate of $1.11.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
