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With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

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The transfusion division of health care giant Abbott screens about half of the U.S. blood supply, so the nationwide decline in blood donations since the COVID pandemic has been not only a public health problem but, for Abbott, a business problem. The company tackled the dilemma by appealing to college students’ competitive streak: Last year, it launched the “We Give Blood” campaign among students at schools in the Big Ten conference, coinciding with the college football season. 

The 2024 initiative resulted in nearly 20,000 donations, enough to save up to 60,000 lives. First-time donors represented 69% of We Give Blood participants. In and around the University of Nebraska—the school that won the competition—local blood centers saw a 27% increase in young donors (ages 16 to 24) versus the previous year. Season two kicked off this September, and is attracting donors at an even faster rate: It neared 20,000 donations in just the first four weeks of the drive.

Change the World

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CTW-2023-Abbott-Graduation-F2S1

Student debt is a massive burden in the U.S. There are more than 43 million borrowers carrying a combined $1.8 trillion in obligations. Debtors often have to choose between paying off their student loans or saving for retirement. That’s why Abbott developed Freedom 2 Save. F2S is a benefit program in which enrolled employees who put 2% of their pay toward their student loans get a corporate match of 5% into their 401(k)s—keeping them from having to sacrifice their future to pay off their past. The health care company’s innovative offering required special permission from the IRS before it could launch in 2018. To date, Abbott has contributed more than $5.5 million to over 2,500 of its employees, including $1.7 million in 2022 alone. Beginning in 2024, all U.S. employers will be able to offer a similar benefit through a provision of the SECURE 2.0 Act—inspired by Abbott’s offering—which will enable employers to match employees’ student loan payments with 401(k) contributions.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

F500-2023-099-Abbott Labortories

Riding the tail end of a sales boom in COVID-19 tests, the medical device and health care products firm dropped 13 spots on the Fortune 500 in 2022, with revenue increasing only 1.3% and profits down 2%. 
<ul> 
 	<li>COVID-19 test revenue accounted for one-fifth of Abbott’s bottom line in 2022, jumping to $8.4 billion from $7.7 billion in 2021. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, the firm projected test sales to drop to $1.5 billion for the year.</li> 
 	<li>Abbott fed some of its COVID-19 test proceeds into research and development, investing an additional $2 billion in 2022.</li> 
 	<li>The Department of Justice is investigating Abbott’s infant formula plant in Michigan, which shut down from February to June 2022 owing to contamination, setting off a nationwide shortage.</li> 
</ul>

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

See which workplaces made this year's list.

GPTW Health Care Large 2022-Abbott Laboratories_1000884-3 copy

Employees say: 
 
“I have never worked at a company that has put so much effort into making sure that their employees are taken care of. Abbott seems to go to great lengths to help employees, their family and the community.”

Best Large Workplaces in Health Care

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

F500-2022-086-Abbott Laboratories

COVID-19 testing continued to drive revenue growth for Abbott Labs in 2021: As of January 2022, the company had distributed about 1.4 billion tests, and those generated $7.7 billion in sales in 2021. Medical devices and nutrition products like Similac and Ensure together account for about two-thirds of Abbott’s revenue. The nutrition division endured a setback in early 2022, however, when Abbott issued a voluntary recall of powdered infant formula manufactured in one of its facilities in Michigan after the plant was linked to a bacterial-infection outbreak; the shutdown contributed to a nationwide formula shortage.

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WMAC 2021-42-Abbott Laboratories

Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Abbott Laboratories leveled up on this year’s Fortune 500 list, leaping from last year’s rank of 104 to No. 89. Why? COVID testing. Abbott was one of the first to jump into the testing market, and that alacrity has paid off; the company’s diagnostics unit, which also houses its COVID test arm, raked in more than $4 billion in sales during the first quarter of 2021 alone. Abbott, though, isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket. As life starts returning to normal, the company believes its diabetes care and glucose monitoring products will continue to fuel growth. &quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:12673,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, Arial&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{&quot;1&quot;:0}{&quot;1&quot;:46,&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;6&quot;:1}}{&quot;1&quot;:53}">Abbott Laboratories leveled up on this year’s Global 500 list, leaping from last year’s rank of 393 to No. 350. Why? COVID testing. Abbott was one of the first to jump into the testing market, and that alacrity has paid off; the company’s diagnostics unit, which also houses its COVID test arm, raked in more than $4 billion in sales during the first quarter of 2021 alone. Abbott, though, isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket. As life starts returning to normal, the company believes its diabetes care and glucose monitoring products will continue to fuel growth.

The best U.S. health care companies with more than 1,000 employees, as ranked by their employees in the past year.

Best Workplaces Healthcare Large 2021-Abbott Laboratories

Employees say: 
“It's really amazing to be part of a team where everyone does their best to help and assist on various projects in addition to their responsibilities.” 
Read Great Place to Work review .

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-89-Abbott Laboratories

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Abbott Laboratories leveled up on this year’s Fortune 500 list, leaping from last year’s rank of 104 to No. 89. Why? COVID testing. Abbott was one of the first to jump into the testing market, and that alacrity has paid off; the company’s diagnostics unit, which also houses its COVID test arm, raked in more than $4 billion in sales during the first quarter of 2021 alone. Abbott, though, isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket. As life starts returning to normal, the company believes its diabetes care and glucose monitoring products will continue to fuel growth. &quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:12673,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, Arial&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{&quot;1&quot;:0}{&quot;1&quot;:46,&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;6&quot;:1}}{&quot;1&quot;:53}">Abbott Laboratories leveled up on this year’s Fortune 500 list, leaping from last year’s rank of 104 to No. 89. Why? COVID testing. Abbott was one of the first to jump into the testing market, and that alacrity has paid off; the company’s diagnostics unit, which also houses its COVID test arm, raked in more than $4 billion in sales during the first quarter of 2021 alone. Abbott, though, isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket. As life starts returning to normal, the company believes its diabetes care and glucose monitoring products will continue to fuel growth.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

G500-2020-393-Abbott-Laboratories

Health care company Abbott Labs manufactures medical devices, diagnostic tools, and nutritional products like Ensure. While the pandemic has depressed some aspects of Abbott's business, demand for COVID-19 testing has buoyed its diagnostic arm.

The best workplaces in health care and biopharma make their employees feel valued while the health care industry continues to undergo rapid technological changes.

Best Workplaces in Health Care and Biopharma-2020-Abbott Laboratories

Employees say: 
“People aren't just here to earn their paychecks, but to make high quality products for the people that depend on them. The people also really care about each other here and go out of their way to ensure that everyone is comfortable.” 
Read Great Place to Work review .

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-104-Abbott-Laboratories

Health care company Abbott Labs manufactures medical devices, diagnostic tools, and nutritional products like Ensure.

As we face unprecedented collective challenges, cooperation has become a business superpower.

24.CTW20.Abbott

Health care access is a challenge in Rwanda, which makes one diagnostic innovation by Abbott Labs particularly valuable. Abbott’s prenatal panel tests simultaneously for syphilis, malaria, HIV, and hepatitis B, using only one finger-stick of blood, with results in the same visit. For expectant mothers who may have time or resources for only one trip to the clinic, that means better care; the test has also enabled a tripling of malaria case detections. 
 
At press time, health care providers were just beginning to deploy another potentially crucial Abbott diagnostic product: An “antigen” test for COVID-19 that yields results in 15 minutes and costs $5.

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Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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Abbott Laboratories is a global health care company. Founded in 1888, the company operates in four main segments: established pharmaceutical products, diagnostic products, nutritional products—including infant formula—and medical devices. As of 2024, Abbott’s medical devices segment was its largest and fastest-growing, accounting for about 45% of revenue. That segment includes devices for monitoring cardiovascular health, glucose monitoring systems for diabetes care, and neuromodulation devices for chronic pain and movement disorders.

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Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Abbott Laboratories

abbott laboratories

Good morning. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Abbott's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be able to listen only until the question and answer portion of this call. During the question and answer session, you will be able to ask your question by pressing the star one keys on your touchtone phone. This call is being recorded by Abbott. With the exception of any participants' questions asked during the question and answer session, the entire call, including the question and answer session, is material copyrighted by Abbott. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without Abbott's express written permission. I would now like to introduce Mr. Mike Comilla, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. With me today are Robert Ford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Phil Boudreau, Executive Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer. Robert and Phil will provide opening remarks. Following their comments, we'll take your questions. Before we get started, some statements made today may be forward-looking for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the expected financial results for 2026. Abbott cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological, and other factors that may affect Abbott's operations are discussed in Item 1A, Risk Factors, to our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2025.

Abbott undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law. On today's conference call, as in the past, non-GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand Abbott's ongoing business performance. 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. Note that Abbott has not provided the related GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis for the non-GAAP financial measures for which it is providing guidance, because the company is unable to predict with reasonable certainty, and without unreasonable effort, the timing and impact of certain items which could significantly impact Abbott's results in accordance with GAAP.

Unless otherwise noted, our commentary on sales growth refers to comparable sales growth. Our definition of comparable sales growth can be found on page two of our press release issued earlier today. A reconciliation table containing the data needed to calculate comparable sales growth can be found on pages 16 and 17. With that, I will now turn the call over to Robert.

Okay, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today, we issued second quarter results that included sales growth of 4.8%, which represents an acceleration compared to the previous two quarters, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.31, which exceeded the midpoint of our guidance range and the consensus estimate. Considering our second quarter results and updated outlook for the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our full year guidance for comparable sales growth of 6.5%-7.5% and raising our EPS guidance range to $5.45-$5.60. Before summarizing our second quarter results, I want to highlight a few recent pipeline achievements, including completing patient enrollments in our TECTONIC coronary IVL pivotal trial, completing our FDA submission for approval of our new Amulet 360 left atrial appendage device, and obtaining CE mark for Libre Duo.

The world's first dual glucose-ketone monitoring sensor designed to detect rising ketone levels and help prevent diabetic ketoacidosis. We anticipate launching these three new products, along with our TactiFlex Duo PFA catheter in the U.S. in a steady cadence over the next 12 months. We also remain on track to begin patient enrollment in the fourth quarter for several important clinical trials that will support a steady cadence of future product launches. These include a balloon expandable TAVR valve, a leadless conduction system pacing device leveraging our AVEIR pacemaker, a mitral replacement valve developed following our acquisition of Cephea Valve Technologies, a peripheral IVL device developed following the acquisition of CSI, and a wearable continuous lactate monitoring sensor designed to reduce the risk of sepsis following discharge from hospital.

I'll now review our second quarter results in more detail before I turn the call over to Phil. I'll start with diagnostics. Diagnostic test results inform approximately 70% of all healthcare decisions, making testing volumes a reliable barometer of overall healthcare activity and demand. Our test volume data, that's sourced directly from our diagnostic instruments located across the United States and around the world, continues to reflect strong and stable demand for testing. We view this as a positive indication of the durable underlying demand for healthcare, not just in the U.S., but globally. This durable demand was evident in our core laboratory results this quarter, where U.S. business grew 7.5% and we continued our track record of strong performance across Latin America.

In rapid and molecular diagnostics, sales declined 8%, driven by the anticipated decrease in respiratory virus testing as a result of a weaker than normal season that concluded during the second quarter. In cancer diagnostics, sales growth of 13% was driven by mid-teens growth of Cologuard, which is benefiting from a growing base of both new and repeat Cologuard users, as well as contributions to growth from our precision oncology and international business. We continue to expect cancer diagnostics growth in the second half of the year to be higher than the first half, supported by increasing volumes from care gap programs, recently launched tests, and continued international adoption. In May, the American Cancer Society updated its colorectal cancer screening guidelines, reaffirming Cologuard and Cologuard Plus as preferred screening options.

This designation reflects Cologuard's market-leading accuracy and superior ability to detect cancer at earlier stages compared to other available tests. Moving to nutrition, where sales finished slightly ahead of our expectations for the second consecutive quarter. Sales increased sequentially by $125 million, driven by improving performance in both pediatric and adult nutrition. In pediatric nutrition, our international business was the first of our nutrition businesses to transition back to delivering positive growth, delivering growth of 6.5% in the quarter. In U.S. pediatric, we exited the quarter with the full benefit of recent WIC contract wins reflected in our run rate, and as a result, Abbott is now the market leader in both WIC and non-WIC segments. In adult nutrition, we continue to see positive volume trends in response to the price actions implemented late last year.

In the U.S., retail consumption of Ensure has increased double digits compared to consumption levels exiting last year, and achieved the highest year-over-year consumption growth in the past year and a half. We're also making good progress in our international adult nutrition business, where sales continue to grow sequentially and are now approaching levels similar to this time last year. We're also benefiting from sales contributions from new innovation, including new versions of Ensure that feature higher protein, lower sugar, and refreshed labeling and packaging. Overall, I remain encouraged by the progress we are making and confident in our outlook for the second half of the year. Turning to EPD, where we continue to deliver consistently strong performance. 

Sales grew 9% in the quarter, reflecting broad-based growth across our largest markets, including India, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. This performance reflects the disciplined execution of our teams and the growing demand for healthcare in emerging markets. This demand is a result of evolving market dynamics, including expanding access to healthcare, aging populations, and a rising need to treat both acute and chronic conditions. These structural tailwinds, combined with our broad portfolio, expanding pipeline of biosimilars, and strong brand equity, position EPD to sustainably deliver high single-digit sales growth. I'll wrap up with medical devices, where sales grew 8.5%. Growth of 8.5% in our cardiovascular device portfolio was led by low teens growth in electrophysiology and high single-digit growth in rhythm management heart failure.

In electrophysiology, the second quarter marked the beginning of an acceleration in our growth trajectory. We launched our next-generation Volt PFA catheter, commonly referred to as Volt 2.0, in the U.S. in May, and we expect to transition from limited market to full market release in the third quarter. Internationally, the expanding rollout of Volt and TactiFlex Duo is gaining strong traction, driving growth of more than 20% in Europe. We remain confident in our outlook for the second half of the year, including our expectation to begin outperforming the market and recapturing share. In rhythm management, sales grew 9.5% as we continue to expand the use of AVEIR across both the single and dual chamber segments of the pacemaker market and drive broader adoption of this innovative technology internationally.

In heart failure, growth of 9% was led by double-digit growth in the U.S., driven by our market-leading portfolio of heart assist devices that address both chronic and acute patient needs. In diabetes care, continuous glucose monitoring sales exceeded $2 billion, reflecting growth of 9.5% in the quarter. In May, we secured CE mark for Libre Duo, the world's first dual glucose-ketone wearable sensor. We will begin the international rollout of Libre Duo in the fall, and we look forward to bringing this innovative new technology to the United States market after we obtain FDA approval. In summary, we remain highly focused on disciplined execution each quarter. Our second quarter results represent an important building block as we move into the second half of the year.

We have momentum building across the portfolio and clear line of sight to the key drivers of sales growth acceleration that are forecasted in the second half. Our continued focus on gross margin expansion gives us confidence in raising our full year EPS guidance, and we have several new products that we anticipate launching at a steady cadence over the next 12 months. I'll turn over the call to Phil.

Thanks, Robert. As Mike mentioned earlier, please note that all references to sales growth rates, unless otherwise noted, are on a comparable basis. Turning to our second quarter results, sales increased 4.8% on a comparable basis, adjusted earnings per share of $1.31 exceeded the midpoint of our guidance range and the consensus estimate. Foreign exchange had a favorable year-over-year impact of 0.8% on second quarter sales, which was a slight improvement compared to our expectations at the time of our earnings call in April. Regarding other aspects of the P&L, the adjusted gross margin profile was 58.0% of sales, representing an increase of 100 basis points compared to the prior year. The improvement was broad-based, reflecting favorable business mix within the legacy Abbott portfolio and from the addition of Exact Sciences.

As well as the continued operational improvements and disciplined execution of our margin expansion initiatives. Adjusted R&D was 6.9% of sales and adjusted SG&A was 28.6% of sales. Based on current rates, we expect exchange to have a positive impact of approximately 1% on full year sales, which includes our expectation for exchange to have a negative impact of approximately 1% on third quarter sales. For the third quarter, we forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.38-$1.46. With that, we'll now open the call for questions.

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising you that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. For optimal sound quality, we kindly ask that you please use your handset instead of your speakerphone when asking your question. Again, that's start one one to ask a question. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Robbie Marcus from JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Great. Good morning. Thank you very much for taking the questions. Robert, if I may, two. One, a market question, one an Abbott question. If I start with the market question, I think a theme that a lot of investors are focused on, given some of the negative pre-announcements out of the hospital sector is the potential for decelerating procedure volumes, particularly in the U.S. We heard from J&J yesterday that they're not seeing any sign to that. We heard from you this morning, particularly on the diagnostic volumes where you have a great view into forward-looking volumes. It sounds like you're not seeing anything. I'd love to hear your view on the health and the forecast of procedure volumes in the U.S. and what you're seeing and expecting.

Sure. Yeah, that seems to be a topic of concern for investors. I think it's less of a concern for the companies, I think at least the companies that are in the markets that we're operating in. I think there's a couple reasons for that. I think some of the concern for the decline in volumes is tied to kind of challenges with the ACA, lower enrollment rates or dis-enrollment rates in Medicaid. I think that's a flawed assumption, Robbie, as it relates to the med tech and diagnostic space. If you go back to when the ACA was implemented, really the pharma companies that predominantly benefited from new patients coming into the market, we didn't see that in med tech or in diagnostics.

We didn't see a spike in demand when the ACA and the expansion of Medicaid happened. I think it's logical here to assume that if we didn't see the benefit, I don't think we're going to see the downside, if that truly is what's happening. I think one reason for that is that it's not Medicaid that is a driver of med tech surgical procedures in the U.S. It's actually Medicare. Medicare is by far the largest U.S. payer as it relates to devices. For us, it's over two-thirds of our U.S. cardio business. I think that's one reason. The other reason that I believe it's not a concern, at least right now we're not seeing it, is that not all healthcare products are the same here.

Demand for high acuity life-saving products is very inelastic. In the U.S., we treat people with serious acute medical conditions, and the system doesn't save lives of only those people with insurance. That's why we didn't see the impact of expansion of ACA and Medicaid into the business, because those patients were already being treated. If you look at our portfolio, it's really tied, and maybe this is a little bit more of an Abbott side, we're really tied to a lot of major chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular, cancer, and this is less likely to forego insurance. I think that's one reason. I think the other reason is our data is not showing that, Robbie. I'm not referring just to our weekly sales and things like that. It's just looking ahead.

I think one of the benefits of our diverse model here is that it really provides a pretty holistic view of the entire healthcare system, not just in the U.S., but globally. Yeah, I think as you mentioned my prepared remarks, we look at our diagnostic business as not obviously a great business to be in, but it also provides us, I think, a forward-looking into the healthcare environment and the healthcare system. Our instruments are located across the world, across the country, all in the States here in the U.S. Testing volumes in the U.S. have held up very well. Not seeing a decline, including in the States that we've seen the highest level of ACA dis-enrollment. We've gone as deep as looking at it from that perspective.

Our U.S. core lab business has accelerated growth in the last two quarters. Our print here is about 7.5% this quarter. If you unpack that, we've got a couple different segments in our U.S. Core Lab business, Robbie. Labs, and then specifically hospital labs. These are our business of selling instruments and reagents specifically for hospital and in-hospital testing. That business was up 13% in this quarter. I think if I look at the diagnostic system as a forward-looking barometer there, we're not seeing that. We're seeing strong demand for our U.S. cardio business. I'd argue that our U.S. cardio business is performing better than it's ever been. We're seeing that same similar strong, stable demand internationally, both in developed and emerging markets.

I feel very good about overall healthcare markets and especially our markets. I think I said this publicly about a month and a half ago. I continue to believe that healthcare demand is just going to continue to accelerate as we see this aging population dynamic. I think every day in the United States, you have 10,000 people that turn 65, and age is a driving factor of healthcare. I think this aging population is a global dynamic, and I think the demand is, right now, we don't see it as a concern.

Well, that's great to hear. Maybe just a quick follow-up, one Abbott specific. It was good to see a small beat on organic sales in second quarter. The forecast includes an acceleration in third and fourth quarter. Would love to hear how you're feeling about the confidence level and that acceleration in the second half, and if you don't mind just highlighting some of the key growth drivers that get you there. Thanks a lot.

Sure. Well, I'm feeling very confident, as I've said. That feeling of confidence is really driven by a lot of hard work that the team is doing. I think Q2 results showed that we've got momentum that's building. Our growth rate stepped up to mid-single digits from where it was in the last two quarters of low single digits. Sales dollar, sales growth rate, all of that accelerated each month during the quarter. As you look to the second half, you've got a lot of businesses, I'm sure we're going to touch on a lot of them here, but a lot of businesses that are doing strong growth rates, and we forecast and continue to do those strong growth rates.

The lift in the second half, 80% of that lift, I'm going to call it trajectory shift, is really coming from four areas: nutrition, electrophysiology, core lab, and cancer diagnostics. Each of these four businesses are entering with a lot of momentum and line of sight to the drivers of the business. I'm sure we'll double click on all of them during the call here. Listen, nutrition is tracking slightly ahead of expectations. Several of our strategies, whether it's pricing, new product launches, commercial execution, that's all being done very well by the team. EP, we've got a lot of great launch activity, a lot of good feedback on our new products. I expect the second half of the market to really show that growth acceleration that we've been forecasting.

In our core lab business, listen, our businesses have performed very well across the world. We obviously had the challenge of the VBP in China, where we had a pretty sizable portion of our international business decline for at least five quarters, around 30%. We're still forecasting a decline in the China business, but much, much lower, mid-single digits. That allows some of the other businesses that have continued to do very well, and actually accelerate to kind of overpower that China impact. Cancer diagnostics, very good trajectory there, especially with new Cologuard users. They're exceeding our expectations. I've learned a lot about these care gap programs. I got confidence in them. We've got a lot of work around them, and I'm confident in that. 

It's really those four businesses that represent the significant shift. Obviously, all the other businesses have got to continue to do well, and they've got all their strategies. If I were to kind of really focus on what's going to drive that second half, it's these four areas here, and they're actually going into Q3 with a lot of good momentum, some of them a little bit ahead of what we thought we would be at. We feel good about that second quarter acceleration.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Larry Biegelsen from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Robert, I'd love to double click on Libre. If you could talk about the Libre trends in the U.S. and international. I think you only reported worldwide growth of 9.5%. What's the outlook for the CGM business the remainder of this year, and what's your latest thinking on the U.S. timing for the dual ketone-glucose sensor and type 2 non-insulin coverage? Just lastly, can these accelerate your CGM growth or just maintain the current rate? Thank you.

Sure, Larry. I loved your characterization of only 9.5% on a $2 billion quarterly business. I get where you're coming from because we've had higher growth rates. I get that. I understand that. Let me see if I can unpack this a little bit so we can kind of all get centered around this very important market of ours and how we see it. I'll get to all your questions, let me just kind of talk about this. I've said this a couple of times on other earnings calls, remain very bullish about this market, Larry. As I've said in the past, you've got 75 to 80 million people around the world that could realistically be on a CGM, you've only got 15 million so far. There's still plenty of opportunity for growth and growth acceleration.

I think it's very sustainable. There's a lot of building blocks to be able to unlock that opportunity. I'd say the number one or the one that we've seen that has the most immediate impact, pretty significant, to unlocking these opportunities is really reimbursement expansion. We have a lot of reimbursement expansion opportunities in the funnel. We're in active discussions with a dozen or so countries that are either looking to introduce or to expand reimbursement. The reason we're having these discussions to expand or introduce these categories or expand the category is because of the robust clinical data that's been developed over a decade with this technology that supports widespread adoption. We've generated data that shows that our competitor has invested and generated data that supports that.

The data is pretty resounding. It lowers A1Cs. It reduces hospitalizations. People spend more hours per day in a normal glycemic range, that has measurable outcome discussions to the healthcare system. The challenge, Larry, is actually trying to pinpoint the exact month or quarter as to when that reimbursement expansion is going to happen. Like you mentioned, the U.S., we're going to be talking about that. It's difficult to forecast that. I would actually say it's easier to forecast the conversion of an existing eligible reimbursed patient population, the penetration of technology, and how that runs, than it is to try and pinpoint when these reimbursement expansions happen. I think when you go through a period of time like that without a major reimbursement expansion, you see this kind of market growth plateau.

When I say plateau, I'm referring to like 8%, 9% growth, which like I said, I don't think is not a bad growth rate. It's just not as high as what we've seen before. To your point on do these things keep you at this growth rate or does it accelerate? It drastically accelerates it, right? Like any one of these markets that goes to reimburse an expansion or introduction of reimbursement, it dramatically accelerates the growth rate, as we've seen in the past, Larry. You've accompanied this segment. It has significant impact. The challenge is not if these countries adopt it. The question is when and how to forecast it. It's difficult for me to, with a business of this size, to try and pinpoint the exact reimbursement.

I can tell you, we are very active in active discussions with very large markets to expand or introduce reimbursement. If I look ahead at some of the key reimbursement expansions that are coming, obviously the U.S. type 2 is a huge opportunity. It's going to unlock around 10 million Medicare beneficiaries. It's going to accelerate commercial insurance coverage. This could be a multi-billion dollar opportunity, and it could happen in the fall. I just can't forecast it exactly when it's going to happen. When it does happen, it is going to definitely accelerate our sales, and we're planning and positioning ourself to be in the best possible position as it relates to sales force, distribution, et cetera, to be able to capitalize on that opportunity. The international basal coverage expansion.

Right now, with all the work that we've done, I'd say you've got France, you've got Japan, you've got Canada that have broadly adopted this. Those are three markets that are in the top 10 international markets. There are another seven markets here that are pretty significant movers, some larger than these markets, that we're having discussions. Given the clinical data, given the pressure from the societies and the patient populations, those are going to happen also. I just can't call it to the exact quarter. These reimbursement opportunities, they're going to accelerate it, and until that happens, I guess I'd say, yeah, you're at this like 8%, 9% growth rate, which on a $2 billion or approaching $10 billion business, that's not a bad business to be in.

I would say, we feel so strongly about this market and the ability for this market to accelerate and to continue to grow and the potential that exists that we're probably in the final stages here of planning for a fifth manufacturing facility. We got our facility up, our last facility, our fourth facility, we got up and running probably in the 2024 timeframe, given the trajectory that I'm seeing right now. That's a 100 million sensor facility. We're probably going to be bumping up against capacity at that facility probably in the next couple of years. We're already looking at our fifth facility, and it'll probably be a billion-dollar investment that right now we're looking at where we're going to make that investment, whether it's going to be in the U.S., internationally.

If it's going to be in the U.S., what state we're going to do. We feel good about this market, Larry. We got plenty of growth drivers here. I just go back to you've got 80 million people that can use this product, clinical data suggests that they should be using the product, healthcare systems will benefit when they do use the product. Currently we're at 15. I feel very good about our business and about our position. Regarding, you had a question about timing of CMS expansion. I think I answered that. Timing on DGK in the U.S. Listen, I'm not going to try and forecast that one either. What I will say is that the discussions are in, I would call very advanced final stages. I'm not going to try and forecast that.

As soon as we have it approved, we'll issue a press release, we'll go and start preparing the market. We are hearing great things already from some of the European physicians that have had some early access to the product. We feel good about that. We got a lot of product innovation coming too, Larry. I know there's a lot of focus here on DGK. We probably have two more programs that I'm not going to talk about for competitive reasons here, that's going to be another driver of growth for us, too. Again, I feel good about this market. We're making the investments. We believe in the growth trajectory and the potential that exists in it, we're full speed in execution.

Robert, thanks for the comprehensive answer. Just to set the record straight, I would say you only reported worldwide growth. I wasn't criticizing the 9.5%. I just wanted to be clear about that. Thank you for the comprehensive answer.

You could criticize, Larry. That's fine. This is a good business, it's doing very well. I know it gets a lot of attention because of us and the competitor, it's a good business. There's a lot of opportunity here. I'm just trying to provide context of the opportunities and how this will accelerate given reimbursement expansions.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Vijay Kumar from Evercore ISI. Your line is open.

Hi, Robert. Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. Hey, I wanted to dive a little bit on Exact Sciences. Business did, to your point, slightly north of 13%. I think you're assuming a step up in the back half, maybe 16 plus. A lot of that is driven, maybe some of that is pricing, some of that is care gap. My question is, how much visibility do you have on these care gap programs in the back half stepping up for Exact Sciences? I think a related question was Freenome just presented their R2 data. Advanced adenoma detection rate was north of 18%. I think that's well above your competition.

When you think about the blood side of CRC screening, do you still expect Abbott to be the market leader on the blood side, even though your entry into the market will be slightly behind Guardant? Thank you.

Sure. Yeah, we grew 13% in the first half. Our deal model that we put together to support the acquisition for 2026 had mid-teens. I feel confident that we'll achieve that. The model called for second half being higher than first half, and the integration is going very well. We're not seeing any kind of issues or disruption. I'm just very impressed by the team there and their understanding of the market. They've done a good job here at making sure that I understand all the different detailed elements of how this market works and drives. To your point of the care gap, care gap volumes ramp in the second half. That's what's going to help drive. It's not just that, but it's a contributing factor to the acceleration in the second half.

Care gap programs really help the health systems achieve their HEDIS credits, their CMS Star ratings. That focus from the healthcare systems, for some reason, tends to happen in the second half. They're looking at their scores, they're looking at their ratings, and they're looking at ways at how they can ensure that they're achieving their targets. That seems to happen a lot in the second half. Do we have visibility? Yeah, we absolutely have visibility. The team is an incredible team there in terms of their market access team. They've got work to do, there's no doubt, but there's a lot of visibility to those programs, and there's a lot of conversations that are happening with the health systems. They're seeing a need to continue to push on earlier detection of Cologuard.

I feel good about the ramp-up of the care gap and the visibility to that. You mentioned price being an element there. As we transition from Cologuard to Cologuard Plus, that's a little bit of a tailwind also. I think there are a lot of key growth drivers here in the medium long term, Vijay, and they're all looking very good. If you look at the growth from Cologuard users, they're exceeding our expectations. There's a certain forecast of how many new users we'll be able to bring in, and the team is actually exceeding that target. The number of repeat users in Cologuard, we talked about the rescreen. That funnel is expanding, and it is extremely reliable in terms of since we have the names, people want to stay up to date with their screening.

That rescreen funnel is expanding, and that's a great opportunity for us. Obviously, Cancerguard, we're investing in that launch. We're going to be reviewing some of our next generation MRD data will be coming out also. There's international expansion. I've been involved in some of the discussions around that, and we're going to be making some pretty interesting progress there with certain governments. Then to your point, the ability to add a blood test to the portfolio is going to be, I think, extremely attractive for us. As you know, blood tests are obviously a little bit more convenient. I think Cologuard is pretty convenient, but I would say blood is a little bit more convenient than that.

It has a problem, which is it doesn't have the same sensitivity as it relates to detection of precancerous polyps and earlier stage detection, right? When you think about screening, that's super important. So I think we'll be the only company-- Say, will you be a leader in blood? I don't actually see it like that, Vijay. We want to continue to be the leader as it relates to screening, and now you're going to have a company that's going to have the opportunity to not only offer a best-in-class stool test, but now we'll also have a best-in-class blood test. I think there might be opportunities, I think as you saw some of the guidelines come out from the American Cancer Society, there is a preference and a drive towards Cologuard.

If you still have a lot of patients that aren't up to date with their screening or haven't done screening, whether it's colonoscopy or Cologuard, that'll be an opportunity for us. That'll be a new market. I think the way I view it is, okay, we'll bring these patients, these consumers, into our screening funnel, and then we'll be able to educate them on the benefits of Cologuard. I think we'll be in a great position as it relates to being the only company to have both stool and blood and be able to support the health systems with that. Even with that precancerous detection being lower than Cologuard, doing a blood test, if you're not doing anything, is probably a good first step, but then you want to actually start to do it with a Cologuard test.

Again, I see a lot of great opportunity in our cancer diagnostic business. The integration is going very well. I continue to be very impressed with this team and their understanding of the market that they've built and their plans to continue to drive it.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Matt Taylor from Jefferies. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I thought it'd be worth spending a minute on EP, given you have this nice series of launches here. You seem to be gaining traction with Volt already. Could you comment on market dynamics and your aspirations in the market? Maybe just talk about how you think the AF market will continue to grow. I know you're committing to growing above market in the second half. Could you talk about how that could continue into next year and the kind of share aspirations that you have?

Sure. I'm not going to give specific targets on share. I think where I'll leave it right now is, yeah, we do expect to grow faster than the market. I think we're entering this phase here where we'll start to outperform market and capture share. I think we saw early signs of that in Q2, Matt. Sales increased every month in the quarter and very good progress there. I think what we'll really start to see that happen in the second half as we transition from a limited market release to full market release of Volt in the U.S. and then continue to roll out TactiFlex Duo internationally. We continue to get very good feedback from physicians and doctors around the world that are using the product.

I'd say Volt, for me, what I hear a lot about Volt is just the continued integration to the mapping system and not having to use a mapping system or a mapping infrastructure that's a little bit subpar versus where the market-leading mapping systems are. Now you don't really have to take that step back a little bit. You've got a PFA catheter that's got very good mapping integration. Opportunity, especially here in the U.S., I keep hearing that for ASC and ASC adoption, given the open footprint of the mapping system and the ability to do these cases with general sedation, just with sedation versus general anesthesia.

The ability here, given the contact, we got to prove this out a little bit, but given the contact integration with mapping and the visualization of that ability to deliver better outcomes by producing more doable lesions. Volt is getting great feedback, and we feel good now that we can move to full market release. TactiFlex Duo, this is coming on the chassis of a very well-liked and understood catheter in the TactiFlex chassis. Seeing nice share capture trends in Europe. Our EP business was up 20% in Europe in the second quarter, that's good. I have high expectations for both these catheters, as I've been pretty clear over these last couple of years, our growth strategy is not going to be built off one product or one catheter that we've got to kind of monitor closely and see.

Yes, these catheters will drive a lot of growth, but we believe that our right growth strategy is to really focus on selling the entire procedure. That's why we've been focusing on not just on these PFA catheters, but also on the mapping systems, all the ancillary, the diagnostics, the introducers, the ICE catheter. I mean, all of that matters, and that's what our focus is here is to really position ourselves as a leading company in this space. We've got a nice pipeline of PFA catheters still in the works. Between now and 2029, we'll have iterations and new versions and new ideas come out. We're also equally investing in mapping and ensuring that our mapping superiority is maintained as obviously competitors are launching their own mapping systems.

We'll continue to invest in that also, and our ability to stay ahead I think is very strong. I think from a forecast perspective, I expect global EP growth to accelerate. It's in the teens right now. It'll accelerate in the second half for sure and outperforming the market. I expect that momentum that we're building this year to carry through to next year. I think we'll get an additional boost into this EP portfolio with our new LAA device. I think the feedback there has been extremely positive. We filed with the FDA. I think here I'll probably feel a bit more comfortable saying, I can see a potential to be able to get this approved by year-end. With that, we'll have strong momentum going into next year with both rollout of TactiFlex Duo in the U.S.

Continued acceleration of Volt in the U.S., launching our next generation LAA device also. I see that momentum continuing into next year.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Travis Steed from BofA Securities. Your line is open.

Hey, Robert. Thanks for taking the question. I guess as we move into the second half of this year, investors are going to start looking more into next year. Curious how you think about the Abbott portfolio in the next year. If this is a kind of a year that sets up for better growth. You've got easier nutrition comps, expanding coverage in Libre. You talked about EP accelerating in the next year, Amulet 360 launching at the beginning of the year. Curious at a high level how you kind of think about the Abbott portfolio in 2027 in growth.

Sure. It's a little early to give exact guidance in 2027. Listen, we have a target always of targeting high single digit growth on the top, double digit on the bottom. I previously referenced 7% as a very kind of sustainable growth rate. I believe 7% is still the right target, despite there being a much larger base today versus where we were several years ago. I looked at this, there's only like five healthcare companies with sales over $30 billion that are growing at least 7%. I think we have a differentiated portfolio here, a very resilient portfolio. I think, as I said, the strategy here of what we've been doing over the last couple quarters to get us back into that 7% top line growth rate.

I think it's really driven, Travis, by looking at the portfolio and then the execution. If I look at the four segments, again, I'm not providing 2027 guidance, but when I look at each one of them and their ranges, nutrition has been a 2%-4% grower, and I think that's probably, as we think about it going forward, that's probably the right range to be thinking about. Our diagnostics portfolio with the addition of Exact Sciences, the VBP impact in China subsiding a little bit is now a 7%-8% kind of range that we think about. Our EPD business has reliably done this for like five years, like 7%-9%. MedTech, we view as kind of an 8%-10% grower. The low end of that range is around 6.5%, the high end is around 8.5%.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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