BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Abbott Laboratories reported a lower first-quarter profit early Wednesday due to assorted accounting charges associated with restructuring and acquisition costs.
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The diversified health-care products-maker posted a quarterly profit of $864 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $1 billion, or 64 cents a share, for the same period in 2010.
Excluding various items, Abbott would have reported adjusted earnings of 91 cents a share in the latest period.
Sales for the quarter rose 17.4% to $9.04 billion, with growth seen across all of its major divisions. Abbott’s top line also got a boost from the inclusion of products from Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which it acquired in February 2010 for roughly $6 billion.
Abbott’s results topped most Wall Street estimates. On average, analysts polled by FactSet Research expected Abbott to earn 90 cents a share on sales of $8.82 billion.
Despite the better than expected results, Abbott did not raise its 2011 financial forecast. Abbott said it still sees earnings per share of $3.70 to $3.80 a share, or $4.54 to $4.64 a share on an adjusted basis.
