(Reuters) -Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday tightened its profit forecast for the year after beating estimates for third-quarter earnings on strong demand for its medical devices and diagnostics products.
The company is seeing a recovery in sales of its medical devices such as heart valve devices and pacemakers as more older people opt for surgeries that were put off due to the pandemic.
Abbott posted a near 17% rise in quarterly sales of its medical devices to $4.25 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $4.16 billion.
Its continuous-glucose-monitoring (CGM) device, Freestyle Libre, brought in sales of about $1.4 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in the second quarter.
Sales of those devices are expected to come under pressure, with the growing popularity of new diabetes drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro.
Abbott, however, has tried to allay those concerns by saying it could be a “complementary relationship” between the two.
On an adjusted basis, the company now expects annual profit of $4.42 to $4.46 per share, compared with its previous forecast of $4.30-$4.50 per share.
Excluding items, Abbott earned $1.14 per share, above analysts’ estimates of $1.10 per share, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Pratik Jain and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
