Baby Formula Blues Hit Abbott Laboratories Stock Hard in 2022. Can It Rebound in 2023?
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) has generally been a good investment to hold over the years. Its business is diverse. And the company not only pays a dividend but also has a terrific track record of increasing its payouts for 50-plus years. But last year was a tough one for the company as, in addition to unfavorable foreign exchange rates, manufacturing problems (e.g., contamination issues) with its baby formula products led to declines in Abbott's top line. And according to The Wall Street Journal, a criminal investigation is ongoing that relates to last year's recalls.
Is Abbott a bad-news buy that could turn things around in 2023, or has this once-safe healthcare stock become too risky of an investment to be holding right now?
Last month, Abbott reported its fourth-quarter and year-end results for 2022. And for the full year, revenue of $43.7 billion rose by just 1.3% from the previous year. There wasn't a lot of growth to show for, as its medical device business reported just 2.2% revenue growth. It was weighed down by foreign exchange as its growth rate jumps to 8.1% organically when factoring out the impact of currency.
Source Fool.com
