At this point in the pandemic, particularly as cases surge amid the Omicron variant, the BinaxNow at-home Covid-19 test made by Abbott Laboratories has become somewhat of a household name.
Abbott has distributed more than 1.4 billion Covid-19 tests globally since the start of the pandemic, including around 300 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, the company said Wednesday. With headquarters between Chicago and Milwaukee, Abbott was at one time among the largest private employers for Kenosha County residents.
The company's global Covid-19 testing-related sales were $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 and $7.7 billion for the full year, the company said Wednesday. Its tests include BinaxNow, Panbio and ID Now.
But even as Covid test sales contributed to a strong quarter for Abbott Park, Illinois-based Abbott (NYSE: ABT), the corporate medical giant in a Wednesday earnings call with investors emphasized its diversified business model across its nutrition, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and medical device businesses.
"We ... continue to play a significant role in the world's response to the pandemic," Abbott CEO and chairman Robert Ford said. "But just as importantly, we demonstrated Abbott's strength across our company, delivering strong growth across our businesses while continuing to expand our portfolio with innovations that will fuel our success for years to come, regardless of the pandemic situation."
Abbott reported full-year 2021 net sales of $43.08 billion, up 24.5% compared with $34.61 billion in 2020. Its full-year 2021 net income was $7.07 billion, or $3.94 per share, up 57% compared with $4.49 billion, or $2.50 per share, in 2020.
The company's diagnostics segment, which includes Covid-19 testing, brought in the largest portion of total sales compared with other business segments and had the largest year-over-year increase in sales.
But all four of the company's business segments had both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year sales increases in 2021 compared with 2020.
The company's medical devices business, which includes its FreeStyle Libre diabetes care product and several heart-related devices, was the second-largest driver of 2021 sales after the diagnostics segment.
For 2022, Abbott is initially forecasting $2.5 billion in Covid-19 testing-related sales, which it expects to achieve early in the year. It plans to update this forecast quarterly.
"We see our guidance as a prudent starting point, given the unpredictability of the virus and variants," Abbott senior manager of external communications and corporate public affairs Kate Dyer said in a statement Wednesday.
Abbott reported $11.47 billion in net sales in the fourth quarter of 2021, up 7% compared with $10.7 billion in the same period in 2020.
The company's net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $1.99 billion, or $1.11 per share, down 8% compared with $2.16 billion, or $1.20 per share, in the same quarter of 2020.
