Pharmaceutical company AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 12.4% year on year to $15 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.65 per share was 0.7% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy AbbVie? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

"We are off to an excellent start in 2026, with first-quarter results exceeding our expectations. AbbVie's key growth drivers continue to deliver strong performance and support our enhanced full-year outlook," said Robert A. Michael, chairman and chief executive officer, AbbVie.

Company Overview

Born from a 2013 spinoff of Abbott Laboratories' pharmaceutical business, AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and markets medications for autoimmune diseases, cancer, neurological disorders, and other complex health conditions.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last five years, AbbVie grew its sales at a mediocre 4.6% compounded annual growth rate. This wasn’t a great result compared to the rest of the healthcare sector, but there are still things to like about AbbVie.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within healthcare, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. AbbVie’s annualized revenue growth of 7.5% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, which is encouraging.

AbbVie also reports sales performance excluding currency movements, which are outside the company’s control and not indicative of demand. Over the last two years, its constant currency sales averaged 7.6% year-on-year growth. Because this number aligns with its reported revenue growth, we can see that foreign exchange has not had a meaningful impact on topline.

This quarter, AbbVie reported year-on-year revenue growth of 12.4%, and its $15 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 8.2% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is particularly noteworthy for a company of its scale and indicates the market is forecasting success for its products and services.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE: The Next Palantir? One satellite company captures images of every point on Earth. Every single day. The Pentagon wants it. Hedge funds are using it to beat earnings. You’ve probably never heard of it.

This is what the early days of Palantir looked like before it became a $437 billion giant. Same playbook. Different technology. If you missed Palantir, you need to see this. Claim The Stock Ticker for Free HERE.

Adjusted Operating Margin

Adjusted operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income (the bottom line) excluding the impact of non-recurring expenses, taxes, and interest on debt - metrics less connected to business fundamentals.

AbbVie has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for a healthcare business, boasting an average adjusted operating margin of 43.8%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, AbbVie’s adjusted operating margin decreased by 12.7 percentage points over the last five years. The company’s two-year trajectory also shows it failed to get its profitability back to the peak as its margin fell by 9.9 percentage points. This performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows its expenses were rising and it couldn’t pass those costs onto its customers.

This quarter, AbbVie generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 26.6%, down 15.7 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses grew faster than its revenue.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Sadly for AbbVie, its EPS declined by 1.6% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 4.6%. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

Diving into the nuances of AbbVie’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, AbbVie’s adjusted operating margin declined by 12.7 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

In Q1, AbbVie reported adjusted EPS of $2.65, up from $2.46 in the same quarter last year. This print was close to analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects AbbVie’s full-year EPS of $10.19 to grow 45.1%.

Key Takeaways from AbbVie’s Q1 Results

It was encouraging to see AbbVie beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS slightly missed. Zooming out, we think this was a mixed quarter. The stock traded up 2.9% to $203.37 immediately after reporting.

Is AbbVie an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).