Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is an American diversified healthcare company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices, diagnostic testing products, nutritional products, and branded generic pharmaceuticals, generating $44.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025. Founded in 1900 and headquartered in Abbott Park, Illinois, the company operates in more than 160 countries, employs approximately 115,000 people, and has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years.

This is a story about a diversified healthcare compounder navigating a pivotal transition. Abbott spent the last several years building one of the most formidable medical device franchises in the industry — its continuous glucose monitoring business alone generates roughly $7.6 billion in annual revenue — while simultaneously managing the post-pandemic unwind of COVID-19 testing and a cyclical downturn in its nutrition business. The narrative entering the second half of 2026 turns on a single question: whether the $20.6 billion Exact Sciences acquisition, which closed in March 2026 and added material financial leverage to a previously conservative balance sheet, earns its place as a durable third growth vertical alongside Medical Devices and Established Pharmaceuticals, or becomes an expensive distraction during a period when several legacy businesses need operational attention.

The file that follows is organised around the debates that matter: the durability of Medical Devices growth as competitive intensity rises in electrophysiology and continuous glucose monitoring, the pace and permanence of the nutrition recovery, the integration risk embedded in the Exact Sciences deal, and the extent to which Abbott's diversification genuinely dampens volatility rather than simply obscuring it.