Is the business good?
How good a business is ABT?
Abbott Laboratories earns 7.7% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
7.7%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 1.3 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 17%
Operating margin · Medical Devices median 11% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.18×
Cash conversion · 0.49× a year ago · every dollar of reported profit arrived as cash, and more
- Share count, year on year
- −0.01%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 15% |
| FY2021 | 20% |
| FY2022 | 19% |
| FY2023 | 16% |
| FY2024 | 16% |
| FY2025 | 18% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 56%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 17%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 14%
- Free cash flow margin
- 16%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 6.6%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $45.1B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $7.38B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $6.28B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 7.7%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Medical Devices
Ranks #16 of 35 by Smart Score