Shares of health care giant Abbott Laboratories (ABT, Financial) jumped after the Illinois-based company reported $7.6 billion in worldwide sales.
The sales figure is a 7.7% rise, according to a fourth-quarter earnings report that beat market projections.
For the quarter, all of its business sectors saw growth, including nutrition (2%), diagnostics (6.7%), pharmaceuticals (14%) and medical devices (9.6%.)
Earnings per share saw a net loss of 50 cents. The company blamed it on a net expense of $1.46 billion for the estimated impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Excluding the one-time expense, it had a gain of 74 cents per share in adjusted earnings.
The results, released today, sent its stock price up by 4.36% in late afternoon trading. It stood at $61.81 before the market close. Over the past year, the stock has jumped 53%.
The company also announced today it is paying cash dividends to its shareholders. Last month, the company’s board of directors increased the quarterly dividend to 28 cents per share from 26.5 cents per share.
The cash dividend is payable Feb. 15. It is the 376th consecutive quarterly dividend the company has paid out, according to the company’s quarterly report.
New developments
The company had a series of new developments to add to its books in 2017.
Last January, Abbott purchased rival St. Jude Medical. And in the fall, it received federal approval for medical devices it has developed that are geared for diabetes patients and others.
In October, the company says it received approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to develop the world’s first and only smartphone compatible Insertable Cardiac Monitor, which is designed to help physicians remotely identify cardiac arrhythmias.
2018 guidance
Abbott is issuing a full-year 2018 guidance for earnings per share of $1.22 to $1.32.
Projected adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations are in the range of $2.80 to $2.90 for all of 2018.
GuruFocus indicators
The company has a market cap of $108 billion. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10 and its profability and growth is 7 out of 10.
Its price-earnings ratio is 48.67 versus an industry median of 30.77.
Its dividend yield is 1.71% while the industry median is 1.38%.
Guru investors include the Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) with 21 million shares of the stock. Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Dodge & Cox and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have been buying up shares since last summer.
The stock’s 52-week range is $39.25 to $59.68.
