Abbott Labs Grows 2Q Profit, Raises Fiscal View

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) on Wednesday booked stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings, lifted by growth in emerging markets and robust proprietary pharmaceuticals sales.

Reflecting its strong performance, the company raised its fiscal earnings guidance to a range of $4.58 to $4.68 a share from its earlier view of $4.54 to $4.64. Analysts are expecting a profit of $4.60.

The Abbott Park, Ill.-based maker of healthcare products posted second-quarter net earnings of $1.9 billion, or $1.23 a share, compared with $1.3 billion, or 83 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.12 a share, just beating the Streets view of $1.11 a share.

Revenue for the three-month period was $9.62 billion, up 9% from $8.8 billion a year ago, ahead of average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters of $9.57 billion, led by a 13% increase in proprietary pharmaceuticals sales and a 7.5% gain in durable growth business sales.

Abbott is well-positioned for a strong second half of the year as we remain on track for double-digit EPS growth in 2011, the companys chief executive Miles White said. We're also pleased with our growth in emerging markets, as well as the progress of our broad-based pipeline, including several new product approvals, regulatory submissions and clinical trial initiations.

Sales in emerging markets were nearly $2.6 billion last period, up 23.2% from the year-earlier period.