Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript January 25, 2023 Operator: Good morning and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Abbott’s Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. This call is being recorded by Abbott. With the exception of any participants’ questions asked during the question-and-answer session, the entire call, including the question-and-answer session, […]

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its Proclaim™ XR spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system to treat painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a debilitating complication of diabetes. The Proclaim XR SCS system can provide relief to DPN patients in need of alternatives to traditional treatment approaches, such as oral medication. People who receive therapy from the Proclaim XR SCS system will also be able to use Abbott's NeuroSphere™

While the top- and bottom-line numbers for Abbott (ABT) give a sense of how the business performed in the quarter ended December 2022, it could be worth looking at how some of its key metrics compare to Wall Street estimates and year-ago values.

Abbott (NYSE: ABT) reported its full-year and fourth-quarter results for 2022 on Wednesday. Abbott's bad news definitely jumped out. While Abbott's sales fell 12% on a reported basis, the year-over-year decline was only 6.1% excluding the impact of foreign exchange.

Double beats for its latest quarter couldn't keep the bears away from the company's shares on Hump Day.

With the exception of any participant's questions asked during the question-and-answer session, the entire call, including the question-and-answer session, is material copyrighted by Abbott. It can not be recorded or rebroadcast without Abbott's express written permission. With me today are Robert Ford, chairman and chief executive officer, and Bob Funck, executive vice president, finance, and chief financial officer.

Abbott topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations Wednesday, helped by already declining Covid test sales, and ABT stock drooped.

The S&P 500 ended lower on Wednesday as a string of corporate earnings ran the gamut from downbeat to dismal, reviving worries over the economic impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve's restrictive policy. "We’ve had up and down days, that indicates an ongoing tug-of-war," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were red, but off session lows. The tech-laden Nasdaq was down the most after Microsoft Corp, the first major technology firm to post quarterly results, offered dour guidance and raised red flags with respect to its megacap peers which have yet to report. Fourth-quarter earnings season has shifted into overdrive, with 95 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported.

The downside can be attributed to a manufacturing disruption during 2022 of certain infant formula products at Abbott's (ABT) Sturgis, MI facility.