On Friday, J.P. Morgan analysts reiterated their Overweight rating on Abbott Laboratories (ABT) while raising their price target from $110 to $125. The analysts give their insight on what they expect to see from 3Q20 results for Abbott Laboratories ahead of earnings season. They like MedTech and Diagnostic businesses combined with BinaxNow, Libre 3.0 and better Fx dynamics.
The analysts forecast 3Q20 revenue sales of $8.70B (+7.8% reported, +8.6%cc) and cash EPS of $0.92 (+9.4%). This is a bit higher than the Street forecast of $8.49B (+7.0%cc) and $0.90 EPS. Similar to the last quarter, better-than-expected COVID trends will work in Abbott’s favor. Medical Devices and Diagnostics is the main factor in representing most of upside given how consensus numbers haven’t moved for recent product announcements (i.e. Binax) and commentary.
J.P. Morgan analysts mentioned, “When combined with the tailwinds the company is seeing within diagnostics from its COVID-19 test approvals, we see the company as well positioned to both weather and even benefit from today’s healthcare environment.” This is a company doing well despite COVID-19 and only looks to improve during this pandemic.
BinaxNOW is a huge contributor to the Overweight reiteration as the analysts forecast the number of COVID-19 testing using BinaxNOW to grow to 50M in October and beyond. This can add up to $100M to top-line revenues and growth in the EPS for this quarter.
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