Abbott Laboratories' 2nd-quarter profit jumps, with several key drugs seeing strong revenue

Medical device and drug maker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday its second-quarter profit climbed more than 61 percent thanks largely to strong sales of its migraine and Crohn's disease treatments.

Earnings rose to $988.7 million, or 63 cents per share, from $612.2 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 16 percent to $6.4 billion from $5.5 billion.

Excluding one-time costs for integrating acquisitions, writing down the value of Abbott's inventory of the antibiotic Omnicef and terminating the sale of its laboratory diagnostics unit, the company said it earned 69 cents per share, surpassing Wall Street forecasts.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 68 cents per share on revenue of $5.51 billion. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time charges.

Abbott's shares rose 31 cents to $53.70 Wednesday.

During the quarter, global sales of Crohn's disease treatment Humira jumped 50 percent to $735 million while sales of Depakote, a drug for migraine headache and epileptic disorders, rose 27 percent to $404 million. Meanwhile, sales of Abbott's lipid-lowering medication, TriCor, grew more than 20 percent to $302 million. Pharmaceutical products made up the bulk of the company's quarterly sales.

Coronary stent sales nearly tripled to $166 million worldwide.

"Our performance this quarter was strong in both our U.S. pharmaceuticals business and in several of our medical products businesses," Chief Executive and Chairman Miles White said in a statement.

Abbott said it was narrowing its full-year guidance range to $2.44-$2.48 per share. Excluding 36 cents per share in special items, the company expects to earn $2.80 to $2.84 per share. Previously, the company forecast earnings, excluding charges, of $2.79 to $2.85 per share.

The company said its third-quarter profit outlook remained the same with a forecast of a profit between 51 cents and 53 cents per share, or 64 cents to 66 cents per share, excluding charges.

Abbott shares rose 11 cents to $53.50 in premarket trading Wednesday.

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