ABT
A decent quarter, then the buzzkill
Abbott didn’t exactly walk into the room with a broken leg. It beat first-quarter sales and earnings, which is usually enough to get a polite golf clap. But then it lowered its 2026 earnings outlook, and that’s the kind of move that makes investors stare at the screen like, “Wait… what changed?”
Guidance is the real headline
Here’s the bite: Abbott now sees full-year adjusted EPS of $5.38 to $5.58, down from $5.55 to $5.80 and below Wall Street’s $5.62. It also guided Q2 EPS to $1.25 to $1.31, which came in shy of the $1.37 consensus. The company blamed part of the drag on 20 cents of dilution tied to its Exact Sciences acquisition — a reminder that big M&A doesn’t just come with big ambition; it also comes with a bill.
Analysts didn’t flee, they just moved their chairs
The sell-side response was classic Wall Street: keep the love, trim the number. Stifel, BofA, Evercore ISI, and Benchmark all held positive ratings but cut price targets to $120. That’s not a breakup, but it is a little less confidence with a little more caution.
Big picture: Abbott is still doing fine operationally, but the Exact Sciences deal is now pressuring near-term earnings math. If you’re holding ABT, the story is less “disaster” and more “good company, slightly worse spreadsheet.”