International Markets: Abbott Laboratories’ Key Revenue Driver

In the first nine months of 2018, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) earned $8.08 billion from the US market, which was a YoY (year-over-year) rise of 15.5% and organic growth of 4.6%. Its international markets contributed $14.73 billion to revenues, which was a YoY rise of 15% and organic growth of 9.2%.

In the third quarter, it reported revenues of $2.71 billion from the US market, which was a YoY organic growth of 5.2% and reported growth of 17%. International markets accounted for $4.95 billion of revenues, which was a YoY organic growth of 9.2% and reported growth of 9.6%.

Year-to-date, international markets have accounted for a larger dollar portion of Abbott Laboratories’ revenues. Revenues from these markets are also growing YoY at a faster pace than the domestic US market.

Abbott Laboratories’ Established Pharmaceuticals (or EPD) division is one of Abbott’s key drivers for its international markets. According to the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call, Abbott expects its EPD division to have mid-single-digit YoY growth in revenues for fiscal 2018.

In the first nine months of 2018, EPD reported revenues of $3.33 billion, which was a YoY organic growth of 8.3% and a reported growth of 6.1%. In the third quarter, it contributed revenues of $1.16 billion, which was a YoY organic growth of 5.9%.

However, EPD saw a 0.9% YoY decline in sales on a reported basis in the third quarter. According to Abbott’s press release on October 17, the decline was due to higher-than-normal purchasing in the Indian market related to channel restocking in the third quarter of 2017.

Abbott also said that EPD revenues were driven mainly by double-digit sales growth in key markets such as Russia and China. The company has had faster-than-market growth year-to-date for its generics business in several emerging markets, including China and India.

In the next part, let’s look at revenue trends for Abbott Laboratories’ Nutrition business.