[Capital Cube] Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)(TREND ANALYSIS) reported preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 with an adjusted EPS of 47 cents versus a consensus estimate of 42 cents. The earnings beat was helped by the sale of two business units – Abbott offloaded its developed markets branded generics pharmaceuticals business to Mylan and later its animal health arm to New Jersey-based Zoetis for $255 million. These offloads account for an after tax gain of $1.74 billion. In addition, this quarter saw the launch of several products such as its glucose monitoring system FreeStyle Libre Pro Flash, launched in India, an adult nutrition drink in China, a drug-eluting stent in Japan and so on.
We analyze the earnings along side the following peers of Abbott Laboratories – Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company (JNJ-US and LLY-US) that have also reported for this period.
Stock Performance: Click here for a free comprehensive Trend Analysis Report
ABT reported last quarter earnings on April 22. The Medical Drugs company announced earnings per share of $0.47 against a consensus Street estimate of $0.42, beating the average estimate by $0.05. This corresponds to a decrease of $0.16 compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is currently trading 0.62% below its 52-week-high, 27.9% above its 52-week-low. The 12-months range for the stock is $37.78 – $48.62. Abbott Laboratories (ABT) has a price to earnings ratio of 17.48 versus S&P 500 average of 17.22. ABT stock price has outperformed the S&P 500 by 5.3%. The Medical Drugs company is currently valued at $72.91 billion and its share price closed the last trading session at $48.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.91 and a 200-day moving average of $45.07.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) current short interest stands at 12.35 million shares. It has decreased by 10% from the same period of last month. Around 1% of the company’s shares, which are float, are short sold. With a 10-days average volume of 5.2 million shares, the number of days required to cover the short positions stand at 2.4 days.
Is this a Buying Opportunity? Click here for a free Trend Analysis Report
There are currently twenty-three analysts that cover ABT stock. Of those twenty-three, sixteen have a Buy rating, seven have a Hold rating. On a consensus basis this yields to an Overweight rating. The consensus target price stands at $52.25.
A recent analyst activity consisted of Barclays reiterating their Equal-weight stance on April 23. Barclays increased their price target on ABT from $52 to $53. This corresponds to a 9.69% upside from the last closing price. On the date of report, the stock closed at $48.46.
JP Morgan reiterated their Neutral stance on the same day, and increased their price target on ABT stock from $46 to $48. This corresponds to a 0.66% downside from the last closing price. On the date of report, the stock closed at $48.46.
Another research firm was Jefferies who reiterated their Hold stance on March 10. Jefferies decreased price target from $51 to $50. This translates to a 3.48% upside from the last closing price. On the date of report, the stock closed at $45.93.
Company profile
Abbott Laboratories discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells a broad and diversified line of health care products and services. The Company’s products include pharmaceuticals, nutritional, diagnostics, and vascular products. Abbott markets its products worldwide through affiliates and distributors.
The post Technical Insights on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) appeared first on Markets Wired.