Abbott Laboratories (ABT) engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Vascular Products. The company is a dividend aristocrat which has increased distributions for 39 years in a row. The most recent dividend increase was in February 2011, when the Board of Directors approved a 9.10% increase in the quarterly dividend to 48 cents/share. Abbott's largest competitors include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Sanofi (SNY).
Over the past decade this dividend growth stock has delivered an annualized total return of 3.50% to its loyal shareholders.
The company has managed to deliver an average increase in EPS of 12.90% per year since 2001. Analysts expect Abbott Laboratories to earn $4.65 per share in 2011 and $5.03 per share in 2012. This would be a nice increase from the $2.96/share the company earned in 2010.
The growth would come from increase in sales in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis drug Humira and the Xience drug eluting stent.