Abbott Laboratories stock surged to the top of the S&P 500 Thursday after the company posted slightly better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year profit outlook on the back of improving sales in its nutrition segment.

Abbott stock advanced 11% to $99.31 on Thursday, set to notch its best daily percentage gain since July 25, 2002, according to Dow Jones Market Data. However, shares remain down 20% this year, closing higher in only two months in 2026 so far.

Medical device maker Abbott reported adjusted earnings of $1.31 a share for the second quarter, up from $1.26 a year ago and slightly above Wall Street's expectation of $1.28. Sales grew 13% to $12.59 billion, beating the analyst consensus call for $12.52 billion, according to FactSet.

The company's medical devices business, which includes its popular FreeStyle Libre glucose monitor, grew 8.4% on a comparable basis to $5.85 billion, representing the vast majority of revenue for the quarter.

Sales of Abbott's continuous glucose monitors increased 9.5%.

Abbott's nutrition business saw sales decline 3.6% on a comparable basis, marking an improvement compared to recent quarters where the segment dragged on Abbott's financials.

Nutrition sales increased $127 million on a sequential basis compared to the first quarter of 2026. Management attributed the improvement to pricing actions and the launch of new products.

The company's diagnostics segment were also a standout. Sales rose 2.9% on a comparable basis to $3.09 billion.

"Our second-quarter results reflect the momentum we are building," CEO Robert Ford said in the earnings release.

Looking ahead, Abbott reaffirmed its full-year comparable sales outlook of 6.5% to 7.5% growth. However, the company hiked its 2026 profit guidance and now expects adjusted earnings of $5.45 to $5.60 a share, up from its previous outlook of $5.38 to $5.58 a share.

Abbott in April updated its full-year guidance to reflect its acquisition of Exact Sciences.

For the third quarter, Abbott expects adjusted earnings of $1.38 to $1.46, with a midpoint meeting Wall Street's forecast of $1.42. For the full year, analysts see earnings of $5.47 with sales totaling $50.37 billion.

"We expect this momentum to continue and drive accelerating sales and earnings growth in the second half of the year," Ford added.

Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday kicked off the earnings season for the broader healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. Novartis and AbbVie announce respective reports in the coming weeks.

Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2026 11:48 ET (15:48 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.