Biotech Values

[Biowatch]

ABT -8%, Venezuala forecast poor, strong dollar hurt earnings.

Sales were impacted by unfavorable foreign exchange movement of 8% during the quarter...

2016 Outlook

Abbott Labs expects earnings per share in the range of $2.10 to $2.20 per share in 2016, including a significant decrease in contribution from Venezuelan operations as a result of challenging market conditions in the country. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate is $2.30.

Earnings per share for the first quarter are projected to be 38–40 cents, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 49 cents.

Our Take

Although the company beat on earnings, the revenue miss was disappointing. The Medical devices business continued to lag. Moreover, the guidance for 2016 was quite dismal too.

Abbott Labs currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Celgene Corp. CELG, Gilead Sciences GILD and Corcept Therapeutics CORT. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/abbott-labs-abt-beats-q4-164304115.html