Q1 progress positions Abbott for accelerating growth in 2026

In the first quarter, Abbott achieved our earnings per share (EPS) target and completed our acquisition of Exact Sciences. With a new high-growth cancer diagnostics business, continued strength in Medical Devices and Established Pharmaceuticals, and steady progress on new products and clinical trials, we are poised to deliver accelerating growth as we move through the year.   

For the first quarter, Abbott delivered adjusted diluted earnings EPS of $1.15 (GAAP diluted EPS was $0.61), consistent with our guidance and reflecting 6% growth. Sales for the quarter totaled $11.2 billion, a 3.7% increase on a comparable basis1 (7.8% reported), with growth led by Medical Devices and Established Pharmaceuticals.  

Medical Devices sales increased 8.5% on a comparable basis (13.2% reported), led by double-digit increases in Rhythm Management, Electrophysiology and Heart Failure.  

Sales in Established Pharmaceuticals grew 9.0% on a comparable basis (13.2% reported), with double-digit growth in several countries across the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions.  

Diagnostics sales increased 1.8% on a comparable basis (6.1% reported), with growth in Core Laboratory as well as Cancer Diagnostics, which reflects the acquisition of Exact Sciences, completed on March 23, 2026. Cancer Diagnostics growth was driven by double-digit increases in sales of Cologuard®, a market-leading noninvasive colorectal cancer screening option, as well as sales of Cancerguard®, a multi-cancer screening test launched last year. 

Nutrition sales reflect the impact of lower sales volumes and strategic pricing actions implemented in the fourth quarter. We expect those pricing actions as well as new product launches to contribute to improved volume growth in 2026. 

We updated our full-year 2026 guidance2 and now project comparable sales growth of 6.5% to 7.5% and adjusted diluted EPS of $5.38 to $5.58, which reflects $0.20 dilution related to the acquisition of Exact Sciences. 

Our pipeline has been highly productive, and we expect that momentum to continue throughout the year. In Structural Heart, positive  early results from our VERITAS study show clinically meaningful closure rates of the investigational Amulet 360™ Left Atrial Appendage Occluder, designed to reduce risk of stroke in patients with non-valvular AFib. In Diabetes Care, positive results of our FreeDM randomized control trial show that FreeStyle Libre 3 delivered better glucose outcomes than fingersticks in people with Type 2 diabetes on basal insulin. We also announced a collaboration with AtaCor Medical to develop a next-generation extravascular implantable cardioverter defibrillator designed to deliver defibrillation therapy to people living with life-threatening heart rhythms.