Abbott Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2024 Results; Issues 2025 Financial Outlook Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2024....

ABBOTT PARK , Ill. , Jan. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT ) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2024 .

"We finished the year with very strong momentum. Sales growth and earnings per share growth in the fourth quarter were the highest of the year," said Robert B. Ford , chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott. "We continued our track record for delivering on our commitments by achieving the upper end of our initial guidance ranges for 2024 and are well-positioned to deliver another year of strong growth in 2025."

FOURTH-QUARTER BUSINESS OVERVIEW Management believes that measuring sales growth rates on an organic basis, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange and the impact of discontinuing the ZonePerfect ® product line in the Nutrition business, is an appropriate way for investors to best understand the core underlying performance of the business. Management further believes that measuring sales growth rates on an organic basis excluding COVID-19 tests is an appropriate way for investors to best understand underlying base business performance in 2024, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted to an endemic state, resulting in significantly lower demand for COVID-19 tests.

Note: In order to compute results excluding the impact of exchange rates, current year U.S. dollar sales are multiplied or divided, as appropriate, by the current year average foreign exchange rates and then those amounts are multiplied or divided, as appropriate, by the prior year average foreign exchange rates.

Refer to table titled "Non-GAAP Revenue Reconciliation" for a reconciliation of adjusted historical revenue to reported revenue.

Worldwide Nutrition sales increased 4.5 percent on a reported basis and increased 7.1 percent on an organic basis in the fourth quarter.

In Pediatric Nutrition, global sales increased 1.5 percent on a reported basis and 2.5 percent on an organic basis. Sales in the U.S. reflect continued market share gains in the infant formula business.

In Adult Nutrition, global sales increased 7.4 percent on a reported basis and 11.4 percent on an organic basis, which was led by strong growth of Ensure ® , Abbott's market-leading complete and balanced nutrition brand, and Glucerna ® , Abbott's market-leading brand of products designed to meet the nutritional requirements for people with diabetes.

As expected, Diagnostics sales growth in the fourth quarter was negatively impacted by year-over-year declines in COVID-19 testing-related sales 3 . Worldwide COVID-19 testing sales were $176 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to $288 million in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Excluding COVID-19 testing-related sales, global Diagnostics sales increased 4.3 percent on a reported basis and increased 6.1 percent on an organic basis.

Excluding COVID-19 testing-related sales, growth in Rapid Diagnostics was driven by strong demand for Abbott's portfolio of respiratory disease tests used to diagnose influenza, strep throat, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Established Pharmaceuticals sales increased 3.8 percent on a reported basis and 8.5 percent on an organic basis in the fourth quarter.

Key Emerging Markets include several emerging countries that represent the most attractive long-term growth opportunities for Abbott's branded generics product portfolio. Sales in these geographies increased 3.3 percent on a reported basis and increased 8.8 percent on an organic basis, led by growth in several geographies and therapeutic areas, including gastroenterology, women's health, and central nervous system/pain management.

Worldwide Medical Devices sales increased 13.7 percent on a reported basis and 14.0 percent on an organic basis in the fourth quarter, including double-digit growth in both the U.S. and internationally.

Several products contributed to the strong performance, including FreeStyle Libre ® , Navitor ® , TriClip ® , Amplatzer ® Amulet ® , and AVEIR ® .

In Diabetes Care, sales of continuous glucose monitors were $1.8 billion and grew 22.7 percent on a reported basis and 22.8 percent on an organic basis.

For the full-year 2024, Medical Devices sales were $19 billion and increased more than $2 billion compared to the previous year.

ABBOTT'S GUIDANCE Abbott projects full-year 2025 organic sales growth to be in the range of 7.5% to 8.5%.

Abbott projects full-year 2025 adjusted operating margin to be 23.5% to 24.0% of sales.

Abbott projects full-year 2025 adjusted diluted earnings per share of $5.05 to $5.25 and first-quarter 2025 adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.05 to $1.09 .

Abbott has not provided the related GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis for these forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures because the company is unable to predict with reasonable certainty and without unreasonable effort the timing and impact of certain items such as restructuring and cost reduction initiatives, charges for intangible asset impairments, acquisition-related expenses, and foreign exchange, which could significantly impact Abbott's results in accordance with GAAP.

ABBOTT DECLARES 404 th CONSECUTIVE QUARTERLY DIVIDEND On Dec. 13, 2024 , the board of directors of Abbott declared the company's quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share. Abbott's cash dividend is payable Feb. 14, 2025 , to shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 15, 2025 .

Abbott has increased its dividend payout for 53 consecutive years and is a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, which tracks companies that have annually increased their dividend for at least 25 consecutive years.

About Abbott: Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 114,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com and on LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , X and YouTube .

Abbott will live-webcast its fourth-quarter earnings conference call through its Investor Relations website at www.abbottinvestor.com at 8:30 a.m. Central time today. An archived edition of the webcast will be available later in the day.

— Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 — A Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Abbott 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's operations are discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023 , and are incorporated herein by reference. Abbott 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.

Specified items reflect intangible amortization expense of $465 million and other net expenses of $268 million associated with intangible impairments, restructuring actions, acquisitions and other net expenses. See table titled "Details of Specified Items" for additional details regarding specified items.

Specified items reflect intangible amortization expense of $481 million and other net expenses of $159 million associated with restructuring actions, acquisitions and other net expenses. See table titled "Details of Specified Items" for additional details regarding specified items.

Specified items reflect intangible amortization expense of $1.878 billion and other net expenses of $755 million associated with intangible impairments, restructuring actions, acquisitions, a divestiture and other net expenses. See table titled "Details of Specified Items" for additional details regarding specified items.

Specified items reflect intangible amortization expense of $1.966 billion and other net expenses of $442 million associated with restructuring actions, acquisitions and other net expenses. See table titled "Details of Specified Items" for additional details regarding specified items.

A reconciliation of the fourth-quarter tax rates for 2024 and 2023 is shown below:

A reconciliation of the year-to-date tax rates for 2024 and 2023 is shown below: