Robert Ford on portfolio strategy
From Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call · · Castify Earnings Call
“I never going to make a long-term strategic decision based on kind of near-term challenges. Obviously nutrition's going through some near-term challenges and going through some transition and recovery phase and that's what my focus is on is getting our business back to a growth rate that we had seen over the last kind of four or five years. But the idea of constantly evaluating the portfolio that is something that we do for all businesses in the company and we do it on a pretty disciplined basis.”
On , Robert Ford, Chairman, President & CEO at Abbott Laboratories, spoke about portfolio strategy during Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call on Castify Earnings Call.
About Robert Ford
On Abbott's first-quarter 2026 earnings call, Robert Ford stated he remains "very confident" in an acceleration of growth in the second half of the year, saying the company knows "what the drivers are" and is "laser focused" on execution. Ford described the integration of Exact Sciences as going "very well" and expressed optimism about the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) market, estimating that 70 to 80 million people globally should be using CGMs compared to a current market of around 10 to 12 million. He also said he expects proposed language for CMS type 2 non-insulin coverage "coming soon," which he said would add coverage for close to 10 million people. Regarding Abbott's nutrition business, Ford said he would not make a long-term strategic decision based on near-term challenges and that his focus is on returning the business to its prior growth rate. He described the company as "very diversified" and noted that while it would be "great" for every business to beat expectations, that does not always happen. Ford also said the electrophysiology market is expected to grow in the "mid to high teens" and that Abbott is "shooting to do better than that."