Stock Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – FDA advisers to weigh risks of Abbott’s dissolving stent

[Reuters] – U.S. government scientists have raised questions about the potential risks to patients of heart attacks and blood clots from Abbott Laboratories’ novel coronary stent that dissolves after it is implanted. Abbott is seeking U.S. approval to sell the stent, called Absorb, as an alternative to metal stents currently used to prop open arteries cleared of blockages. U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff, in documents released before an advisory panel meets on Tuesday to consider whether to recommend approval of the device, said they would ask the outside experts about data showing more heart attack and stent-related blood clots compared with Abbott’s drug-coated metal Xience stent. Read more on this. Abbott Laboratories (ABT) , with a current market cap of $60.41B, opened this morning at $40.31. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $39.99 to $40.68 with a trailing 52-week range being $36.00 to $51.74. Priced at 18.07x this year’s forecasted earnings, ABT shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 2.70x forward p/e ratio. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.04 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.58%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 18 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.39 per share, which would be $0.08 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.11 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.16 which would be a $0.01 improvement than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $4.77 Billion. If realized, that would be a 2.65% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Morgan Stanley downgraded ABT from Overweight to Equal-Weight (Jan 4, 2016). Previously, Goldman downgraded ABT from Buy to Neutral. The average price target for ABT shares is $43.93, which is 8.98% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:ABT) Similar Articles: Company Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – Abbott Declares 369th Consecutive Quarterly Dividend Market Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – Abbott Labs to buy diagnostics company Alere for $5.8 bln Company Update: Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) – Abbott Reports Third-Quarter 2015 Results