Abbott's ($ABT) diagnostics sales soared during the 2013 fourth quarter and medical device numbers also grew at a moderate clip. Also, emerging-market sales climbed strongly. But net earnings plunged, without the Illinois company's old pharmaceutical business to prop things up.
Overall, however, sales only inched up 0.4% when the impact of exchange rates is factored in. For the quarter, Abbott said it produced $5.66 billion in net sales from all of its divisions. Net earnings reached $589 million, down 44% from the $1 billion booked in the 2012 fourth quarter, the last before it spun off its brand-name pharmaceuticals into AbbVie.
Abbott's diagnostics division generated nearly $1.2 billion in sales during the fourth quarter, a 6% hike over the same period a year ago. Medical devices, which includes stents and other cardiac devices, produced more than $1.4 billion in sales, representing a 2% climb versus the 2012 fourth quarter.
Broken out, medical optics performed well, as did endovascular products, though drug-eluting stents were generally stagnant. Vascular sales grew slightly, but diabetes care sales (including glucose meters and strips) dropped 4.4% during the quarter, propelled downward by a 14.3% drop in U.S. sales in that division.
Medical optics represents an investment that is paying off for Abbott. The company noted it obtained some regulatory wins in Japan and the U.S. for intraocular lens products during the year, which sets the division up for healthy growth. Abbott closed its $400 million OptiMedica purchase in August and that is also fueling good numbers for the division.
As well, diagnostics has also continued to propel growth for the company, and Abbott noted it launched a number of new diagnostic test approvals during the quarter on its Architect platform, plus a new automated laboratory device.
While vascular and cardiac sales were either sluggish or flat, Abbott still scored some solid product launches during the quarter and year, which it said will help boost revenue down the line. They include the Xience Xpedition drug-eluting stent in the U.S. and Japan, and MitraClip, a first-of-its-kind device designed to treat mitral regurgitation by clipping together parts of the mitral valve after delivery through a catheter into the femoral vein.
For the full year, Abbott said it generated more than $21.8 billion in sales, up 1.6% over the previous year. Net earnings surpassed $2.5 billion, but that compares to nearly $6 billion in net earnings in 2012, when AbbVie was still part of Abbott. Abbott said it expects to reach more robust growth by mid-2014, with ongoing earnings-per-share guidance for the full year of $2.16 to $2.26.
- read the earnings release
- here's the Chicago Tribune's take