These Non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled with the comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings news release and regulatory filings from today, which are available on our website at abbott.com. Unless otherwise noted, our commentary on sales growth refers to organic sales growth, which is defined in the press release issued earlier today. We delivered top-tier margin expansion and achieved our original target of double-digit earnings growth in earnings per share despite the implementation of new tariffs and heightened market challenges in China. Our announced acquisition of Exact Sciences will allow Abbott to enter and lead in the fast-growing cancer diagnostics market and adds a new high-growth business with an attractive pipeline to the Abbott portfolio.
As we announced this morning, we forecast the midpoint of our 2026 organic sales growth range to be 7% and the midpoint of our adjusted earnings per share range to reflect 10% growth. Abbott has been in the nutrition business for more than 60 years, and with that history comes experience, not just in times of growth, but in times that require navigating challenges. Our results this quarter underscore a broader challenge, which is the need to reignite volume growth, a challenge many consumer goods businesses face today. We have increased prices to help mitigate the impact of higher manufacturing costs, but those price increases in the current economic environment have become a factor in constraining volume growth.
Higher manufacturing costs led to higher prices, which in turn are suppressing demand as consumers become increasingly more price-sensitive. Our goal is to transition our business back to one with a more balanced growth profile, with volume growth playing a greater role going forward. In the fourth quarter, we began implementing price and promotion initiatives to help start the process of reigniting volume growth. We expect performance in the nutrition to remain challenged in the first half of the year, with a return to growth in the second half.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Organic sales growth | FY2026 | 6.5%-7.5% (7% midpoint) (Midpoint 0.5 points below prior consensus of 7.5%, driven by near-term nutrition outlook) |
| Adjusted EPS | FY2026 | $5.55-$5.80 (10% growth at midpoint) (In line with consensus) |
| Adjusted EPS | Q1 2026 | $1.12-$1.18 |
| Foreign exchange impact on reported sales | FY2026 | ~1% favorable (~3% favorable in Q1) |
| Adjusted tax rate | FY2026 | 15%-16% |
| Operating margin improvement | FY2026 | 50-70 basis points |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total sales (ex-COVID) | +3.8% | Underlying business growth offset by the year-over-year decline in COVID testing sales |
| Medical devices | +10.5% | Double-digit growth in CGM, electrophysiology (double digits in U.S. and internationally), and structural heart (Navitor, TriClip, MitraClip) |
| Continuous glucose monitors | +12% (quarter), +17% (year) | Strong market fundamentals, leading cost and scale position, and continued adoption across user groups |
| Established Pharmaceuticals (EPD) | +7% | Well-balanced growth across markets and therapeutic areas, including double-digit growth in India, Latin America, and the Middle East |
| Diagnostics | -3.5% | Anticipated year-over-year decline in COVID testing sales |
| Core Lab Diagnostics | +3.5% (quarter); +7% full year excluding China | Durable demand in markets around the world; third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth |
| Point-of-care diagnostics | +7% | Adoption of the high-sensitivity troponin test for earlier and more accurate heart attack detection |
| Nutrition | declined | U.S. pediatric market share loss and price increases suppressing volume growth amid heightened consumer price-sensitivity |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrition volume reset and pricing | Pediatric share loss flagged last quarter | Began price and promotion initiatives in Q4 plus at least eight new product launches over the next 12 months; growth challenged in H1 with return to growth in H2 | Rising |
| CGM / diabetes care growth durability | Targeted ~$1 billion of incremental sales per year | Reiterated low-teens 2026 growth with penetration opportunity across all three patient groups and a non-insulin reimbursement opportunity not baked into guidance | Steady |
| Electrophysiology PFA portfolio | Sustained double-digit growth in 2024-2025 without a PFA catheter | Volt launching in U.S. and TactiFlex Duo internationally in 2026, positioning a complete RF and PFA portfolio plus LAA device | Rising |
| Exact Sciences acquisition | — | Shareholder vote on February 20, required clearances submitted, no change to timing or ~$0.20 dilution; adds a $3+ billion business growing ~15% in cancer diagnostics | Rising |
| China diagnostics VBP headwind | ~$1 billion of diagnostics headwind (COVID plus China) in 2025 | Bulk of VBP impact felt; expected to stabilize in 2026 with limited exposure to upcoming oncology-testing VBP waves | Declining |
| Margin expansion discipline | Top-tier margin expansion delivered in 2025 | Commitment to 50-70 bps annual operating margin improvement via gross margin expansion and P&L leverage | Steady |