Abbott Laboratories Lost 16% This Year: One Analyst Sees 35% Gains for the Healthcare Giant

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) presently trades astatine $105.70, portion the Street's statement terms people sits astatine $118.42, implying astir 12% of upside. Barclays expert Matt Miksic carries the highest progressive people astatine $143, translating to astir 35% successful gains from here.

Abbott is simply a diversified healthcare elephantine with a marketplace headdress adjacent $182.9 billion, operating crossed aesculapian devices, diagnostics, established pharmaceuticals, and nutrition. Wall Street prizes the institution for its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose show franchise, structural bosom pipeline, and a dividend grounds spanning 54 consecutive years of increases.

The spread matters due to the fact that the S&P 500 is up 9.55% twelvemonth to day portion Abbott has declined.

Why Abbott Slid While the Market Rallied

The catalyst was the $21 cardinal Exact Sciences acquisition that closed connected March 23, 2026, creating net distortion. GAAP EPS successful Q2 collapsed to $0.53 from $1.01 from $658 cardinal successful intangible amortization, $299 cardinal successful involvement expense, and a $385 cardinal ineligible reserve a twelvemonth earlier. Quarterly net maturation connected a reported ground came successful astatine antagonistic 47.5%.

By the clip Abbott filed Q2 results, shares had fallen from $127.12 Q3 2025 filing terms to $89.79. Underneath the GAAP mess, adjusted EPS bushed astatine $1.31 versus a $1.28 consensus, a 5th consecutive beat. Revenue reached $12.59 billion. The marketplace focused connected optics alternatively than operating trends.

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Segment weakness reinforced caution. Nutrition fell 3.1%, U.S. Structural Heart dropped 9.8%, and accelerated and molecular diagnostics slid 7.3% connected brushed respiratory season. Abbott is present down 14.08% twelvemonth to day and 14.3% implicit the trailing year.

What Analysts Still See successful the Setup

The bull lawsuit rests connected adjusted net powerfulness that GAAP figures obscure. Management raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $5.45 to $5.60 and reaffirmed 6.5% to 7.5% comparable income growth, some contempt astir $0.20 dilution tied to the Exact Sciences deal. CEO Robert Ford said the institution expects "accelerating income and net maturation successful the 2nd fractional of the year."