“For the third quarter, we forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 to $1.46”

In context

“cond quarter sales, which was a slight improvement to our expectations at the time of our earnings call in April. Regarding other aspects of the P&L, the adjusted gross margin profile was 58.0% of sales, representing an increase of 100 basis points compared to the prior year. The improvement was broad based, reflecting favorable business mix within the legacy Abbott portfolio and from the addition of Exact Sciences as well as the continued operational improvements and discipline of our margin expansion initiatives. Adjusted R&D was 6.9% of sales, and adjusted SG&A was 28.6% of sales. Based on current rates, we expect exchange to have a positive impact of 1% on full year sales. Which includes our expectation for exchange to have a negative impact of approximately 1% on third quarter sales. For the third quarter, we forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 to $1.46 With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator: Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, You will then hear an automated message advising you that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press 1-1 again. For optimal sound quality, we kindly ask that you please use your handset instead of your speakerphone when asking your question. And again, that is And our first question comes from Robert Marcus from JPMorgan. Your line is open. Robert Marcus: Great. Good morning. Thank you very much for taking the questions. Robert, if I may, 2. 1, a market question, 1 an Abbott question. And if I start with the market question, I think a theme that a lot of investors are focused on given some of the negative”