By Christy Santhosh and Puyaan Singh
(Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday forecast 2025 profit that came in line with Wall Street estimates as it expects new device launches and growing demand for its glucose monitors to offset a hit from weakness in China and a stronger dollar.
The company, which makes medical devices and also sells nutrition products such as baby formula, has seen a large boost to sales from strong demand for FreeStyle Libre – its continuous glucose monitor.
Abbott had been facing supply issues for its Libre devices and said it will meet the demand mismatch as it gets one of its manufacturing sites up and running.
Shares of the company rose 1.3%, reversing early declines despite its first-quarter outlook missing estimates.
“Abbott tends to start the year conservatively and there could be potential for upside if foreign exchange rates do improve,” said Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar.
CEO Robert Ford said the company expects a sales hit of 2.5% from a stronger dollar in 2025, including an impact of 3.5% in the first quarter. Larger peer Johnson & Johnson also pointed to the impact from a stronger dollar on Wednesday.
Ford also sees a hit in 2025 from a procurement program in China, under which the country buys medical devices in bulk at a sharp discount.
Fourth-quarter sales in the company’s medical devices unit trumped estimates on the back of its glucose-monitoring products while smaller units such as nutrition, fell short of expectations.
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)
