Abbott Laboratories swings to 4th-quarter loss on charges related to Kos acquisition

Health care products maker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday it swung to a fourth-quarter loss due to its $3.7 billion acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., but beat Wall Street's estimates for adjusted profit and sales.

The company reported a loss of $476.2 million, or 31 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with profit of $976.4 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding charges of $1.3 billion mostly related to the Kos deal, Abbott posted adjusted profit of $1.15 billion, or 75 cents per share, for the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $6.22 billion from $6.05 billion a year ago, as global sales of anti-inflammatory drug Humira jumped nearly 41 percent to $620 million.

The results beat analysts' profit estimate by a penny a share, and easily topped the Street's sales consensus of $6.18 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

The company forecast 2007 operating profit of $2.77 to $2.83 per share, reflecting the recently announced sale of Abbott's core laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic businesses to General Electric Co. Analysts estimate 2007 earnings per share of $2.79.

Abbott expects 2007 global sales of Humira to exceed $2.7 billion.

Shares in the company fell 33 cents to $53.05 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

___

On the Net:

http://www.abbott.com