Sales of Abbott Labs'
Sounds great, but Abbott's shareholders shouldn't be too focused on drug-eluting stents. While they're sexy to talk about -- "Abbott Looks Like the New Stent King" from this morning isn't one of mine -- stents, in and of themselves, don't make up that much of Abbott's well-diversified arsenal. In fact, drug-eluting stents contributed just 4% of sales this quarter. The corollary is also true for Johnson & Johnson
Now for Medtronic
So what's driving Abbott's more-than-17% jump in sales? Pretty much everything. All four divisions -- pharmaceutical, nutritional, diagnostics, and vascular -- saw at least a 14% year-over-year increase in revenue. Perhaps most impressive, Abbott's best seller drug Humira, the anti-inflammatory that competes with Johnson & Johnson's Remicade and Enbrel from Amgen
The bottom line looked just as good with earnings per share up almost 18% after adjusting for certain items like charges for revamping the diagnostic test division. Not bad, not bad indeed.
From baby formula to diagnostic tests to pharmaceuticals, Abbott has what customers need no matter what the economic climate is like. In this irrational market, investors would be hard pressed to find a more stable company, despite its sexy stents.
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