Abbott Grows On Strength Of New Drugs (Humira, et. al.)

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Abbott Grows On Strength Of New Drugs

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=34 & issue=20081030

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 10/30/2008

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) is a diversified drug and medical products company

with some hot products that are driving earnings growth.

Its best seller is the biological drug Humira, which is expected to get $4

billion in global sales this year after $3.1 billion in 2007.

That accounts for about 30% of Abbott's drug sales. And the $29 billion in

total drug sales is about half of Abbott's revenue.

Humira targets autoimmune disorders and is known as a drug platform from

which many products are derived.

The drug has FDA approval for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis,

Crohn's disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. It has

been approved in 72 countries and used by 250,000 patients worldwide.

Another of the company's important products is the stent Xience. It's a

small mesh tube pushed into an artery to open it and free blood flow. It's

drug-eluding, meaning it gradually discharges a drug to prevent an artery

from reclogging.

Abbott is one of several companies working on a new stent that will dissolve

in the artery. That's important, because if there's a new clog, another

stent might have to pass through the old one to open the artery.

Abbott has an EPS Stability Rating of 3. That's a stable performance,

typical of many drug companies. For the latest quarter, earnings were 79

cents a share, a 17% increase from the year-ago period. Revenue was up 18%.

The company has modestly exceeded analysts' estimates for eight straight

quarters.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast 2008 earnings of $3.32 a

share, a 17% increase.