UPDATE 4-Alere shares sink after Abbott CEO fuels speculation deal at risk
(Corrects paragraph 9 to show AbbVie was spun off from Abbott, not the other way around)
By Natalie Grover
April 20 (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories Inc's chief executive said on Wednesday it would not be appropriate to comment on whether the company was committed to buying diagnostics company Alere Inc, fueling speculation the deal might not close.
Alere's stock tumbled about 18 percent to $40.51 after Abbott Chief Executive Miles White, speaking on a post-earnings conference call, declined to respond directly when asked whether he would reaffirm Abbott's commitment to the $5.8 billion deal.
Alere, which agreed to the deal in February, said in March it had received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice seeking documents relating to its sales practices and would delay filing its annual report.
"We don't know when they will file their proxy," White said in response to a question from an analyst. "We don't know when they are going to have a shareholder vote. So right now I'd say it's not appropriate for me to comment on Alere."
Alere did not respond to requests for comment.
Buying Massachusetts-based Alere would allow Illinois-based Abbott to become the leader in point-of-care diagnostic testing.
Abbott still considers M&A to be a high priority but will be cautious about where it invests, taking into account exposure to potential foreign exchange volatility, White added.
The company has been focusing on generic pharmaceuticals in emerging markets after selling its generic drugs business catering to developed markets to Mylan NV in 2014.
Abbott, which spun off AbbVie Inc in 2013, has four core divisions - nutrition, diagnostics, medical devices and branded generic pharmaceuticals.
The company, whose shares little changed, raised its adjusted profit forecast for 2016 after first-quarter earnings and revenue beat analyst estimates, helped by strength across its businesses.
Overall net sales were little changed, however, mainly due to the dollar's strength. About two-thirds of Abbott's revenue comes from outside the United States.
Net sales fell 0.2 percent to $4.89 billion on a reported basis, but were up 5.1 percent on an operational basis.
Excluding items, Abbott earned 41 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected earnings of 39 cents per share and revenue of $4.78 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Abbott bumped up its adjusted 2016 profit forecast to $2.14- $2.24 per share from $2.10-$2.20.
The momentum in the company's business should improve as the year progresses as key emerging market economies stabilize, Danielle Antalffy, an analyst at Leerink Partners, said in a client note.
(Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Ted Kerr)
