Abbott Laboratories Sets 2020 Guidance

By Dave Sebastian

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) on Wednesday set its guidance for 2020 as it reported higher fourth-quarter profit and sales.

The Abbott Park, Ill.-based maker of health-care products expects organic sales growth of between 7% and 8% for the year, a metric that excludes the impact of foreign exchange.

The company said it sees per-share earnings from continuing operations at $2.35-$2.45.

It expects net specified items for the year of $1.20 a share, including intangible amortization expense, acquisition-related expenses, charges associated with cost-reduction measures and other expenses. Excluding those items, the company sees earnings per share from continuing operations of $3.55-$3.65 for 2020.

For the first quarter, Abbott said it expects earnings per share from continuing operations of 40 cents-42 cents. Excluding items, it forecast earnings from continuing operations of between 69 cents and 71 cents a share for the quarter.

Abbott shares rose 2% in premarket trading.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2020 08:12 ET (13:12 GMT)

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