Is Abbott Labs (ABT) Still a Safe Investment Pick?

Diamond Hill Capital, an investment management firm, published its “Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund” first-quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. During a volatile quarter, Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund performed roughly in line with the Russell 1000 Index. The market environment in Q1 provided a meaningful opportunity for us to initiate positions in high-quality names. From current levels, equity market returns over the next five years are likely to be below historical averages. Try to take some time looking at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund mentioned  Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 1888, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is a Chicago, Illinois-based medical device company with a $185.0 billion market capitalization. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) delivered a -24.89% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -10.04%. The stock closed at $105.71 per share on July 14, 2022. 

Here is what Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund has to say about Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Abbott Labs announced a recall of its infant formula brand Similac^® in the US. Though the recall will impact near-term revenues, we are not concerned about any long-term impacts. We remain optimistic about the company’s prospects over the long run because, in our view, it is one of the highest quality names in health care with a talented management team that makes smart capital allocation decisions. Abbott also has leading health care and consumer franchises with a particularly strong competitive position in the medical device business. Abbott continues to launch innovative products in key strategic areas (such as diabetes, structural heart and diagnostics), which should help drive not only revenue growth but margin expansion.”

national-cancer-institute–Ln-tYivJM4-unsplash

Our calculations show that Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) was in 68 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 64 funds in the previous quarter. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) delivered a -10.18% return in the past 3 months.

In March 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.