Abbott raises profit forecast on strong medical device sales

(Reuters) -Abbott Laboratories raised its annual profit forecast and beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter earnings on Thursday, buoyed by strong sales of its cardiac and diabetes care devices.

The company's medical devices segment has benefited from an industry-wide recovery in sales of heart valves and pacemakers as more people, especially older adults, opted for surgeries deferred during the pandemic.

Strong demand for diabetes care devices, especially of FreeStyle Libre, also bolstered the business. Sales of the glucose monitors climbed 18% to $1.6 billion.

Abbott has set an annual sales target of $10 billion for the Libre franchise by 2028.

Overall, medical devices sales jumped 10.2% to $4.73 billion, ahead of analysts' average estimate of $4.66 billion, according to LSEG data.

In contrast, rival Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday missed expectations for medical device sales, weighed down by competition in devices used in surgeries and supply constraints, as well as lower demand for bariatric procedures.

However, performance of Abbott's other businesses came in weaker than Wall Street expectations.

Revenue from its diagnostics segment, which surged during the pandemic, was $2.20 billion, down 5.3% due to a steep fall in sales of COVID-19 tests. Analysts had expected $2.21 billion.

Worldwide COVID testing sales were $102 million in the second quarter, compared with $263 million a year earlier.

Overall, revenue for the quarter was $10.38 billion, compared with estimates of $10.37 billion.

The company now expects a profit of $4.61 to $4.71 per share for the full year, compared with its prior forecast of $4.55 to $4.70.

On an adjusted basis, quarterly profit of $1.14 per share beat analysts' average estimate of $1.10.

(Reporting by Pratik Jain, Puyaan Singh and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)