Abbott's Lingo CGM System Gains U.S. Availability: Stock to Gain?
Abbott Laboratories ABT recently made Lingo, its continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, available in the United States without a prescription. The system comes with a biosensor and a mobile app designed for consumers’ overall health improvement and wellness.
The latest U.S. availability of Lingo helps Abbott expand its market presence in the CGM segment.
Following the news, shares of ABT fell 1.1% to $113.10 yesterday. However, as the company is gaining a high level of synergies from its continued development within the CGM space, we expect market sentiment to recover in the near future.
About Abbott’s Lingo System
Designed to track glucose in real time, Lingo is based on Abbott's FreeStyle Libre CGM technology. It can be used by consumers aged 18 years and older who are not on insulin. The system is worn on the back of the arm for up to 14 days. It continuously streams glucose data to the Lingo app, translating the body's reaction to food, exercise and life's daily stressors.
The system provides a graph of glucose reaction updates based on continuous readings captured from its biosensor. The body's glucose spikes are translated into an easy-to-understand metric – Lingo Count. It also provides customized recommendations based on foods logged, time of day and accrued Lingo Count. With Lingo, consumers can create new habits and earn badges on winning challenges.
Lingo is available in three convenient options. The first one is Learn (two weeks), designed to gain an understanding of how a user’s body is responding to daily food and exercise choices (one biosensor worn for up to 14 days). Second is Build (four weeks), which can be worn to develop a deeper knowledge of metabolism and experiment with habits designed to help improve metabolic health (two biosensors, each worn for up to 14 days). And last is Transform (12 weeks), designed to create consistent routines, improve user metabolism and track progress toward long-term goals with continuous accountability (six biosensors, each worn for up to 14 days).
More on the News
There are numerous health benefits of using CGM systems and limiting glucose spikes, a few of them being weight management, improved sleep and better mood.
Abbott announced FDA clearance of Lingo in June. The Lingo app is available in the App Store. It is also accessible in the UK.
Industry Prospects Favor Abbott
Per a Grand View Research report, the global CGM devices market size was valued at $4.60 billion in 2023 and is projected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 7.19% during the period. A key factor driving market growth is the increase in the prevalence of diabetes due to aging, obesity and unhealthy lifestyle practices.
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Abbott’s Recent Development
Last month, Abbott’s Diabetes Care business formed a global partnership with Medtronic on an integrated CGM system based on Abbott's FreeStyle Libre technology. The integration of Abbott's CGM sensor with Medtronic's automated insulin delivery (AID) algorithms should enable automatic adjustments of insulin to keep glucose in range.
Price Performance of Abbott
In the past year, shares of ABT have risen 14.4% comapred with the industry’s 17.2% growth.
ABT’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks
ABT currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Intuitive Surgical ISRG, TransMedics Group TMDX and Boston Scientific BSX. While Intuitive Surgical and TransMedics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, Boston Scientific currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Intuitive Surgical’s shares have surged 60.4% in the past year. Estimates for the company’s earnings have remained constant at $6.67 per share for 2024 in the past 30 days.
ISRG’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 8.97%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of 16.34%.
Estimates for TransMedics’ 2024 earnings per share (EPS) have moved up 48.1% to $1.20 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have risen 127% in the past year compared with the industry’s 13% growth.
TMDX’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 287.50%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 66.67%.
Estimates for Boston Scientific’s 2024 EPS have increased 1.7% to $2.40 in the past 30 days. In the past year, shares of BSX have risen 51% compared with the industry’s 18.2% growth.
In the last reported quarter, BSX delivered an earnings surprise of 6.90%. Its earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 7.18%.
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