{"id":577947,"date":"2026-08-07T21:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/577947\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:41:00","slug":"abbott-laboratories-lost-16-this-year-one-analyst-sees-35-gains-for-the-healthcare-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/577947\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbott Laboratories Lost 16% This Year: One Analyst Sees 35% Gains for the Healthcare Giant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT<\/a> | ABT Price Prediction<\/a>) currently trades at $105.70, while the Street\u2019s consensus price target sits at $118.42, implying roughly 12% of upside. Barclays analyst Matt Miksic carries the highest active target at $143, translating to about 35% in gains from here.<\/p>\n

Abbott is a diversified healthcare giant with a market cap near $182.9 billion, operating across medical devices, diagnostics, established pharmaceuticals, and nutrition. Wall Street prizes the company for its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitor franchise, structural heart pipeline, and a dividend record spanning 54 consecutive years of increases.<\/p>\n

The gap matters because the S&P 500 is up 9.55% year to date while Abbott has declined.<\/p>\n

Why Abbott Slid While the Market Rallied<\/p>\n

The catalyst was the $21 billion Exact Sciences acquisition that closed on March 23, 2026, creating earnings distortion. GAAP EPS in Q2 collapsed to $0.53 from $1.01 from $658 million in intangible amortization, $299 million in interest expense, and a $385 million legal reserve a year earlier. Quarterly earnings growth on a reported basis came in at negative 47.5%.<\/p>\n

By the time Abbott filed Q2 results, shares had fallen from $127.12 Q3 2025 filing price to $89.79. Underneath the GAAP mess, adjusted EPS beat at $1.31 versus a $1.28 consensus, a fifth straight beat. Revenue reached $12.59 billion. The market focused on optics rather than operating trends.<\/p>\n

Segment weakness reinforced caution. Nutrition fell 3.1%, U.S. Structural Heart dropped 9.8%, and rapid and molecular diagnostics slid 7.3% on soft respiratory season. Abbott is now down 14.08% year to date and 14.3% over the trailing year.<\/p>\n

What Analysts Still See in the Setup<\/p>\n

The bull case rests on adjusted earnings power 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 sales growth, both despite roughly $0.20 dilution tied to the Exact Sciences deal. CEO Robert Ford said the company expects \u201caccelerating sales and earnings growth in the second half of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miksic\u2019s $143 target is anchored on FreeStyle Libre 3 adoption, gross margin expansion in medical devices, and steady growth from Navitor and TriClip in structural heart. Continuous glucose monitor sales hit $2.19 billion in Q2, up 10.5%, and Cologuard is running at mid-teens growth after the American Cancer Society reaffirmed it as preferred screening.<\/p>\n

Across 28 analysts, coverage breaks down as:<\/p>\n

Strong Buy: 4
\nBuy: 17
\nHold: 7
\nSell: 0<\/p>\n

Recent revisions have leaned lower even where Buy ratings stuck. UBS trimmed its target to $125 from $135 in late July while maintaining Buy. That pattern tells you analysts still like the underlying business but expect a slower path higher.<\/p>\n

How Med-Tech Peers Are Trading Around Abbott<\/p>\n

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT<\/a>) trades at $85.39, down 9.59% year to date, with an average target of $98.44 for roughly 15% upside. Coverage is split with 18 Buys against 12 Holds.<\/p>\n

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX<\/a>) is the outlier. Shares sit at $46.73 after a 50.99% year-to-date collapse tied to two consecutive guidance cuts<\/a>. The consensus target of $64.28 implies about 38% upside, with 27 of 31 analysts rating it Buy or better.<\/p>\n

Danaher (NYSE:DHR<\/a>) trades at $194.98, down 14.46% year to date. Its $227.96 target points to about 17% upside, with 22 Buys and 4 Holds.<\/p>\n

Boston Scientific carries the largest implied upside, but only because it fell hardest. Against a more stable peer set, Abbott\u2019s 12% consensus upside looks middle of the pack. Miksic\u2019s 35% target is what makes the story interesting.<\/p>\n

The Valuation Picture<\/p>\n

Abbott trades at $105.70, with a $118.42 consensus target across 28 analysts. Forward P\/E is 19, and the dividend yields 2.35%.<\/p>\n

Abbott is off 14.08% year to date while the S&P 500 is up 9.55%. Over one year, Abbott is down 14.3% versus 18.19% for the index. Shares have rallied 15.48% in the past month, suggesting the worst of the reset may be behind.<\/p>\n

The Investment Case<\/p>\n

The bull case works if H2 2026 delivers the acceleration management has telegraphed. That means CGM sustaining double-digit growth against Dexcom, Cologuard compounding at mid-teens, Structural Heart U.S. stabilizing, and Exact Sciences dilution rolling off into 2027. If adjusted EPS lands at the high end of the $5.45 to $5.60 range and margins expand as Miksic expects, a re-rating toward the $130s becomes reasonable.<\/p>\n

The bear case holds if GAAP earnings pressure lingers. Nutrition remains a drag, Structural Heart is bleeding U.S. share, and legal reserves keep appearing quarterly. If the CGM category compresses on price and Exact Sciences dilution stretches beyond guidance, this becomes a value trap.<\/p>\n

The recent 15% monthly bounce, raised guidance, and fifth straight adjusted EPS beat point to a business executing while the tape catches up. At 19 times forward earnings for a healthcare compounder with 54 years of dividend hikes, the risk-reward profile favors a longer-term horizon.<\/p>\n

Contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> for any questions or corrections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT | ABT Price Prediction) currently trades at $105.70, while the Street\u2019s consensus price target sits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-577947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}