Abbott CEO: & #039;We & #039;re Going to Continue to Surprise People & #039;

Abbott truly showed the world what it was made of in 2017, but don't expect the company to sit on its laurels in 2018.  The company is forecasting between 6% and 7% growth this year, which may have raised a few eyebrows Tuesday. As J.P. Morgan's Mike Weinstein noted during the question and answer portion of Abbott's fourth-quarter earnings call, that forecast is at the upper end or better than most analysts were probably expecting. He asked CEO Miles White about his level of confidence in that forecast. "Yes, I'll tell you, look, the forecast we put out, it's a strong forecast. It just is," White said, according to Seeking Alpha transcripts of the call. "I mean relative to peer groups, competitors, segments, the whole thing, and even relative to us. To be honest, even looking at that, yes, I feel pretty confident about it." Of course there are always going to be unknowns, such as what the currency exchange may or may not do over the course of the year, White said, but based on everything he knows at this point, 6% to 7% is an accurate growth forecast, "and probably closer to the high end of that." Abbott launched more than 20 products last year, with one of the most successful launches being the FreeStyle Libre glucose monitoring system.  "I enjoy the fact that every time something is announced with Libre, it's a surprise to somebody because everybody seems to have such low expectations for it, and I think we're going to continue to surprise people in that category," White...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Medical Device Business Source Type: news