Abbott profit, sales beat estimates on vigorous COVID test demand

Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday beat quarterly profit and sales estimates, aided by robust sales of COVID-19 test kits and strong demand for its diagnostics products, but forecast lower-than-expected COVID-19 testing sales in 2022 due to uncertainties around the future of the pandemic. The U.S. medical device maker traded down as much as 2.7% Wednesday morning following its earnings release. Abbott said it expects $2.5 billion in sales of COVID-19 test kits in the early part of this year. The company will update its test kit estimates on a quarterly basis.