Medical-device company Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) reported impressive second-quarter earnings and raised guidance for the full year. COVID-19 diagnostic tests have given the company several quarters of strong earnings growth, but the performance of the underlying core business may give a better idea of future revenue prospects.

Abbott is one of the largest manufacturers of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests, offering personal and point-of-care testing to provide a real-time diagnosis of infection in less than 15 minutes. The sensitivity of its rapid antigen test compares favorably to the gold standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, identifying 14 of 15 individuals who are likely to be infectious. Overall, the company has sold more than 200 million rapid tests since April 2020. 

Despite Abbott's expectation that COVID-19 sales would sharply dwindle as the year progressed second-quarter sales remained robust. Global COVID-19 diagnostic revenue fell from $3.3 billion in the first quarter to $2.3 billion in the second quarter. This was well above expectations, causing the company to upgrade its full-year guidance for COVID diagnostic sales from $4.5 billion to $6.1 billion. 

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Source Fool.com