Ebb & Flow
Abbott was the latest pharma company to issue an earnings surprise, and the news was not met kindly. ABT was down $8.61 (19%) to $36.75 on the week after tumbling $7.37 (16%) to $38.30 on 24.7 million shares on Tuesday's news that it lowered its EPS guidance for the second quarter to $0.51 from $0.53 and for the full year to $2.06-$2.10 from $2.24-$2.26.
Going into last week, ABT had been one of the top pharma performers since the group peaked at the end of 2000. The company's market cap had declined only 6%, making it the second-best big pharma performer over that period, behind only Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, up 15%). ABT had been helped by its diversified portfolio of healthcare products (drugs, diagnostics and devices) and strong growth from Meridia/Reductil obesity drug and its Kaletra lopinavir/ritonavir HIV product...