Abbott (ABT) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing

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Abbott (ABT) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing

Abbott (ABT) closed the most recent trading day at $103.56, moving +1.7% from the previous trading session. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.51%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 2.85%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 2.8%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 7.89% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 5.12% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.66%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Abbott in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on April 16, 2026. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.14, reflecting a 4.59% increase from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $11.02 billion, reflecting a 6.38% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $5.66 per share and a revenue of $47.7 billion, indicating changes of +9.9% and +7.62%, respectively, from the former year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Abbott should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.3% lower. Abbott is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

In the context of valuation, Abbott is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 17.99. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 18.

One should further note that ABT currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.63. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The Medical - Products industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.58 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 169, finds itself in the bottom 31% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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