Abbott's Growth and Dividends Make It a Smart Portfolio Pick

There are many reasons to own Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), but they all boil down to one thing: consistent market-beating returns. A study published by Hendrik Bessembinder, a professor of finance at Arizona State University, found that Abbott is the 11th top-returning stock since 1937 and #1 among healthcare names. 

The critical takeaways from the report are time and consistency: the top performers produce slower annual growth than flash-in-the-pan growth stories but do it year in and year out, compounding value over the long term. Value is driven by company growth, cash flow, and capital returns, which, in Abbott's case, include dividends and share repurchases. Abbott stock can also help reduce portfolio risk because its low beta is about 0.7x the S&P 500.

High-Quality Abbott Stock: Corporate Growth That Pays You to Own It

Abbott Laboratories had a solid Q3, reporting 4.9% growth to outpace the consensus forecast despite the impact of lower COVID-related sales and discontinued business. Organically, ongoing business grew by 8.2% due to strength in the medical device segment. Medical Devices grew by 11.7% reported and 13.3% organic due to a double-digit increase in Structural Heart ...