Is Abbott Labs Stock in Trouble?
The coronavirus pandemic has caused problems for the economy as a whole, but it's also created many opportunities for healthcare providers. With more than 5 million cases of COVID-19 now around the globe, one area where there's been significant demand has been in coronavirus testing. In March, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) launched a coronavirus test that the company said could deliver results in just five minutes. However, a recent study is questioning the effectiveness of that test, and that could be bad news for the stock.
A study out of New York University (NYU) is raising serious concerns around just how accurate Abbott's ID NOW test is in detecting COVID-19. Researchers found that the Abbott test was not nearly as accurate as another test from private company Cepheid. Of the positive results that Cepheid's test detected, the Abbott test showed a negative result 48% of the time.
The White House has spoke highly of Abbott's test in the past, but infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hortez has doubts about it, saying that "The White House might have to call an audible and switch tests." One of the reasons that he's concerned about the results: The patients who had positive results on the Cepheid test also had COVID-19 symptoms.
Source Fool.com
