Abbott Profits Up 6.2 Percent
ABBOTT PARK, Ill. (Reuters) - Health-care products company Abbott Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:ABT - news) on Wednesday said its second quarter profits rose 6.2 percent, meeting Wall Street estimates and benefiting from strong hospital products sales.
The Abbott Park, Illinois-based company, a maker of hospital products, pharmaceuticals, baby formula and nutritional supplements, posted a second quarter profit of $685 million, up from $645 million earned in the second quarter of 1999.
Earnings per share for the quarter rose to 44 cents from 41 cents a year ago and met the consensus estimate of market research firm First Call/Thomson Financial.
Shares in Abbott, which have been on the rebound since the beginning of March when they dipped below 30, rose 1/2 to 43-1/4 in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Worldwide sales for the second quarter were $3.37 billion, up 3.4 percent from $3.26 billion in the second quarter of 1999. Total sales were reduced 1.4 percent by the relatively stronger U.S. dollar. Hospital products segment sales in the second quarter jumped 17.4 percent to $659 million from $561
million in the second quarter of 1999.
``Abbott continues to make progress particularly with our quality initiatives and in our efforts to strengthen our commitment to science,'' said Miles White, chairman and chief executive officer of Abbott, in a statement.
``We significantly increased our R&D spending to support our growing pipeline of promising drug candidates and, through business alliances, continued to access promising technologies,'' he said.
Pharmaceutical products sales in the 2000 second quarter rose 3.5 percent from a year-ago. Ross products sales were $497 million in the second quarter, up 6 percent from $469 million in the second quarter of 1999.
International segment sales, including direct exports from the U.S., were $807 million, up 3.2 percent from the year-ago quarter. International sales were hit by the relatively stronger U.S. dollar, but without the currency
impact, international segment sales were up 6.4 percent.
Diagnostic products segment sales were $761 million in the second quarter compared with $759 million in the year-ago period.
Total sales in U.S. markets in the 2000 quarter rose to $2.075 billion, up 3.5 percent from a year-ago. Total international sales, including direct exports from the United States, were $1.30 billion, a 3.3 percent increase from $1.25 billion recorded a year ago.
LOOKING GOOD TODAY...
start of the day was real slow, but the reality checked in at the end of the day and we have a nice 40K block after hours which is the first time I've seen this one trade after hours in a long time.
chris |
