Abbott: Abbott Laboratories Reports Q2 2026 Results: Full Earnings Call Transcript

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT ) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below. Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more. Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/fgbg9ss6/ Summary Abbott Laboratories reported a 4.8% sales growth for Q2 2026, with adjusted EPS of $1.31, surpassing the midpoint of guidance and consensus estimates. The company reaffirmed full-year guidance for comparable sales growth of 6.5-7.5% and raised EPS guidance to $5.45-$5.60. Significant pipeline achievements include FDA submission for Analyt360, CE mark for Libre Duo, and plans for several product launches over the next 12 months. Strong demand in core laboratory diagnostics, with US business growing 7.5%, despite an 8% decline in respiratory virus testing. Nutrition sales outperformed expectations, driven by contract wins and new product innovations. Medical device sales grew 8.5%, with significant contributions from electrophysiology and rhythm management. Abbott plans to expand its continuous glucose monitoring business with a new manufacturing facility to meet anticipated demand. Management expressed confidence in maintaining growth momentum and executing on strategic priorities, citing strong pipeline and market dynamics. Full Transcript OPERATOR Good morning and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Abbott Laboratories' second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be able to listen only until the question and answer portion of this call. During the question and answer session, you will be able to ask your question by pressing the star 11 keys on your touchtone phone. This call is being recorded by Abbott Laboratories with the exception of any participants' questions asked during the question and answer session. The entire call, including the question and answer session, is material copyrighted by Abbott Laboratories. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without Abbott Laboratories' expressed written permission. I would now like to introduce Mr. Mike Camilla, Vice President, Investor Relations. Michael Comilla, Vice President, Investor Relations Good morning and thank you for joining us. With me today are Robert Ford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Phil Boudreau, Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Robert and Phil will provide opening remarks following their comments. We'll take your questions before we get started. Some statements made today may be forward-looking for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the expected financial results for 2026. Abbott Laboratories cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological, and other factors that may affect Abbott Laboratories' operations are discussed in Item 1A Risk Factors to our Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2025. Abbott Laboratories undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments except as required by law on today's conference call. As in the past, non-GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand Abbott Laboratories' ongoing business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled with the comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings news release and regulatory filings from today which are available on our website at Abbott.com. Note that Abbott Laboratories has not provided the related GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis for the non-GAAP financial measures for which it is providing guidance because the company is unable to predict with reasonable certainty and without unreasonable effort the timing and impact of certain items which could significantly impact Abbott Laboratories' results in accordance with GAAP. Unless otherwise noted, our commentary on sales growth refers to comparable sales growth. Our definition of comparable sales growth can be found on page two of our press release issued earlier today, and a reconciliation table containing the data needed to calculate comparable sales growth can be found on pages 16 and 17. With that, I will now turn the call over to Robert. Robert Ford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Okay, Mike. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. Today we issued second quarter results that included sales growth of 4.8%, which represents an acceleration compared to the previous two quarters, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.31, which exceeded the midpoint of our guidance range and the consensus estimate. Considering our second quarter results and updated outlook for the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our full-year guidance for comparable sales growth of 6.5 to 7.5% and raising our EPS guidance range to $5.45 to $5.60. Before summarizing our second quarter results, I want to highlight a few recent pipeline achievements including completing patient enrollments in our Tectonic Coronary IVL pivotal trial, completing our FDA submission for approval of our new Analyt360 left atrial appendage device, obtaining CE mark for Libre Duo, the world's first dual glucose ketone monitoring sensor designed to detect rising ketone levels and help prevent diabetic ketoacidosis. We anticipate launching these three new products along with our Tactaflex Duo PFA catheter in the US in a steady cadence over the next 12 months. We also remain on track to begin patient enrollment in the fourth quarter for several important clinical trials that will support a steady cadence of future product launches and these include a balloon expandable TAVR valve, a leadless conduction system pacing device leveraging our Avera pacemaker, a mitral replacement valve developed following acquisition of Cephea Valve Technologies, a peripheral IVL device developed following the acquisition of CSI, and a wearable continuous lactate monitoring sensor designed to reduce the risk of sepsis following discharge from hospital. I'll now review our second quarter results in more detail before I turn the call over to Phil and I'll start with diagnostics. Diagnostic test results inform approximately 70% of all healthcare decisions, making testing volumes a reliable barometer of overall healthcare activity and demand. Our test volume data that's sourced directly from our diagnostic instruments located across the United States and around the world continues to reflect strong and stable demand for testing, and we view this as a positive indication of the durable underlying demand for healthcare not just in the US but globally. This durable demand was evident in our core laboratory results this quarter where US business grew 7.5% and we continued our track record of strong performance across Latin America in rapid and molecular diagnostics. Sales declined 8%, driven by the anticipated decrease in respiratory virus testing as a result of a weaker than normal season that concluded during the second quarter. In cancer diagnostics, sales growth of 13% was driven by mid-teens growth of Cologuard, which is benefiting from a growing base of both new and repeat Cologuard users as well as contributions to growth from our precision oncology and international business. We continue to expect cancer diagnostics growth in the second half of the year to be higher than the first half, supported by increasing volumes from care gap programs, recently launched tests and continued international adoption. In May, the American Cancer Society updated its Colorectal Cancer Screening guidelines reaffirming Cologuard and Cologuard plus as preferred screening options. This designation reflects Cologuard's market-leading accuracy and superior ability to detect cancer at earlier stages compared to other available tests. Moving to nutrition where sales finished slightly ahead of our expectations for the second consecutive quarter, sales increased sequentially by $125 million driven by improving performance in both pediatric and adult nutrition. In Pediatric Nutrition, our international business was the first of our nutrition businesses to transition back to delivering positive growth, delivering growth of 6.5% in the quarter. In U.S. pediatric, we exited the quarter with the full benefit of recent WIC contract wins reflected in our run rate and as a result Abbott Laboratories is now the market leader in both WIC and non-WIC segments. In adult nutrition, we continue to see positive volume trends in response to the price actions implemented late last year. In the US, retail consumption of Ensure has increased double digits compared to consumption levels exiting last year and achieved the highest year-over-year consumption growth in the past year and a half. We're also making good progress in our international adult nutrition business where sales continue to grow sequentially and are now approaching levels similar to this time last year. We're also benefiting from sales contributions from new innovation, including new versions of Ensure that feature higher protein, lower sugar and refreshed labeling and packaging. So overall I remain encouraged by the progress we are making and confident in our outlook for the second half of the year. Turning to EPD where we continue to deliver consistently strong performance, sales grew 9% in the quarter reflecting broad-based growth across our largest markets including India, Latin America and Southeast Asia. This performance reflects the disciplined execution of our teams and the growing demand for healthcare in emerging markets. This demand is a result of evolving market dynamics including expanding access to healthcare, aging populati