By Lisa Beilfuss
Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday said its first-quarter earnings
rose, thanks largely to a gain stemming from recent divestitures,
although currency fluctuations weighed on sales growth.
The company said the stronger dollar shaved 7% from its top
line.
The Illinois-based health-care company has been realigning its
business in a series of deals. Most recently, Abbott filed to sell
about a third of its stake in Mylan NV, a position it had acquired
through a partial sale of its generic-drugs business to the
Netherlands-based drug maker.
Overall, Abbott reported a profit of $2.3 billion, or $1.51 a
share, up from $237 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.
The results included a $1.7 billion gain on the sales of its
generic-pharmaceuticals business to Mylan and its animal-health
business to Zoetis Inc.
Excluding items such as the gains and foreign-exchange impacts,
earnings rose to 47 cents from 41 cents.
Revenue increased 3% to $4.9 billion, but excluding currency
fluctuations and including the impact of acquisitions, sales grew
by 10%.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit
of 42 cents and revenue of $4.85 billion.
Abbott shares, up 4.5% this year through Tuesday's close, are
inactive in premarket trading.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
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