Abbott Laboratories (ABT) - Stock report

Abbott Laboratories sells healthcare products that patients and care providers buy over and over: medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutrition products such as Similac and Ensure, and branded medicines. It earns money when hospitals, laboratories, government agencies, pharmacies, retailers, and consumers keep reordering. A large part of its device business is continuous glucose monitoring, where people with diabetes wear small sensors they replace regularly, so each patient becomes a stream of repeat purchases rather than a single sale. Abbott runs four segments: Medical Devices, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Established Pharmaceutical Products, the last selling branded generics like Creon and Synthroid in emerging markets outside the United States.

In March 2026 Abbott paid about $20.6 billion for Exact Sciences, a cancer-screening business, funding it mainly with $20 billion of new long-term debt. Total debt now stands at $32.6 billion, far above the $5.6 billion of cash and current marketable securities it held at June 30, 2026. That gap means the company must generate steady cash to cover interest and bring the debt back down.

Exact Sciences added about $1 billion of sales between the March close and June 30, 2026, yet Abbott said its contribution to profit was not material. The extra revenue is real; the extra earnings are not there yet. Closing that gap is what decides whether a large purchase becomes worthwhile rather than just a bigger revenue line.