Stay-at-home orders have encouraged many people to stock up on nutrition products, with consumers in emerging markets helping sales of pharmaceutical companies, like Abbott Laboratories, that just surpassed estimates for its first-quarter performance.
Wall Street projections had been cut significantly since the coronavirus crisis broke out as they braced for a downturn in routine medical process. Abbott Laboratories stock rose 1.0 percent in early morning sessions Thursday after the pharma exceeded sales targets for the quarter. The company gained net revenues of $564 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with $672 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
During a quarter marked by the roll-out of three new coronavirus tests, including the highly awaited Abbott ID COVID-19 test that delivers results in just 13 minutes, the medical device firm reported an earnings per share of $0.65 on $7.7 billion profits. The biotech company also highlighted three lab trials for Covid-19, including molecular analysis.
The new equipment has turned the once weak-performing stock into a momentum play, pushing shares up almost by half off the 20-month low reported last month. It has now hit a few cents of January's all-time peak at $92.4, paving the way for a possible breakout that could bring it to the $110 mark in the months ahead.
Abbott Laboratories disclosed it is fast-tracking the production of its Covid-19 test kits, including a new method that could allow mass screening, as US President Donald Trump tries to reopen parts of the the country as early as May.
According to Abbott chief executive officer Robert Ford, the company is currently on course to roll out 4 million of its latest antibody tests this month, which can detect if a person has contracted the diseases in the past and was either asymptomatic or recovered.
Ford said they are looking at expediting up to 20 million deliveries per month starting in June, adding more tests are needed in order to boost the monitoring and detection of the virus.
The Chicago-based medical device firm has been deemed essential in helping the US economy recover and its diagnostic operations should get a boost from its three new coronavirus trials that it has recently carried out.
A molecular test will be conducted using the company's equipment in medical facilities and reference laboratories, while the other latest molecular procedure will provide results in just under five minutes, as its collaboration with CVS Health proves effective in setting up drive-in hubs in parking lots to make use of the advanced system.
