AbbVie (ABBV) Q3 2026 earnings review
AbbVie raises its profit plan, while cosmetic sales fall again
AbbVie's newer immunology and brain medicines are driving growth while its older cancer and cosmetic products lag behind. Third-quarter revenue rose 10% to $17.4 billion, above what the company's own plan pointed to. Reported profit per share excluding one-offs more than doubled, though by our math profit rose 17% after stripping out upfront licensing milestone charges in both years. Chief executive Robert A. Michael raised the full-year profit outlook and lifted the 2027 dividend by 5%.
| Profit per share, excluding one-offs and deal milestones | $3.93 +17.0% from a year ago (by our math) |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.40B +10.3% from a year ago |
| Skyrizi + Rinvoq share of revenue | 48.7% 43.7% a year ago |
| Full-year profit per share outlook | Raised $0.11 middle of the range: $13.97 |
⚖️ Verdict: 🟢 Bullish
The story got better because the pipeline delivered multiple late-stage trial wins and FDA approvals while the core immunology drugs beat expectations. Closing the Apogee acquisition, winning approval for Parkinson's pill Juvmo, and posting positive data for combination Crohn's therapy and skin-disease drug lutikizumab all strengthen the company's post-2030 lineup. One caution: the cosmetic division shrank again as Juvederm filler sales dropped 12%.
The question now is whether AbbVie's new drug pipeline can replace Skyrizi when its main patents expire in the early 2030s. Bulls point to the expanding immunology, neuroscience and cancer pipelines, while sceptics worry that one medicine now accounts for a third of total revenue. Clinical readouts for combination bowel treatments and next quarter's 2027 outlook will test that transition.
🐂 Bull Case
Skyrizi and Rinvoq Carry Nearly Half of Sales
AbbVie's immunology business makes medicines for autoimmune conditions like psoriasis, arthritis and Crohn's disease. For the last three years, the drugmaker has worked to replace Humira, its older blockbuster that lost patent protection in 2023, with two newer immunology treatments: Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
- Immunology portfolio sales: $9.17 billion, up 16.3% from a year ago
- Skyrizi sales: $5.78 billion, up 22.7% from a year ago
- Rinvoq sales: $2.71 billion, up 23.9% from a year ago
- Humira sales: $683 million, down 31.2% from a year ago
That replacement is now complete because Skyrizi and Rinvoq brought in $8.48 billion combined, or 48.7% of total company revenue by our math. Humira makes up less than 4% of revenue, so its 31.2% drop subtracted only $310 million while the two newer medicines added $1.59 billion.
What to watch: Skyrizi's fourth-quarter growth rate against the full-year product target on the conference call. A reading near 20% would show that slowing growth comes from a bigger sales base rather than weaker patient demand.
Neuroscience Grows 19% and Adds Parkinson's Approval
Neuroscience is AbbVie's second-largest division, selling treatments for psychiatric disorders, migraines and Parkinson's disease. Management wants this business to serve as a second growth pillar alongside immunology.
- Neuroscience portfolio revenue: $3.39 billion, up 19.4% from a year ago
- Vraylar (antipsychotic) and Botox Therapeutic: $1.07 billion (+14.3%) and $1.08 billion (+9.8%)
- Ubrelvy and Qulipta (oral migraine pills): $449 million (+26.9%) and $398 million (+38.2%)
- Vyalev (Parkinson's infusion therapy): $286 million, more than double a year ago
During the quarter, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Juvmo, a once-daily pill for Parkinson's disease that offers "a differentiated approach to motor symptom control across the PD continuum". Qulipta also passed a late-stage trial for menstrual migraine. These wins matter because they give the division new patient groups before Medicare price controls take effect on Vraylar in 2027.
What to watch: management's 2027 sales outlook for Neuroscience when full-year results arrive next quarter. Continued growth near 15% or higher would show that migraine and Parkinson's launches can outrun Vraylar pricing pressure.
Immunology and Cancer Pipelines Hit Key Milestones
Because Skyrizi accounts for a third of company sales and faces patent expirations in the early 2030s, AbbVie must prove its drug pipeline can sustain growth next decade. This quarter delivered several clinical and regulatory advances across immunology and oncology, its cancer division.
In immunology, the FDA approved under-the-skin initial dosing for Skyrizi in Crohn's disease, and an experimental combination therapy (ABBV-466, pairing Skyrizi with ABBV-382) beat Skyrizi alone in a mid-stage Crohn's study. Lutikizumab, an experimental antibody for the painful skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa, also passed its main late-stage trial goal. In cancer, AbbVie filed for US approval of etentamig in multiple myeloma, reported that Epkinly cut the risk of lymphoma progression or death by 51% in a late-stage trial, and won two FDA Breakthrough Therapy tags for Temab-A, a targeted chemotherapy drug.
What to watch: late-stage trial results for Rinvoq in hidradenitis suppurativa due in the fourth quarter. A positive readout alongside lutikizumab would give the drugmaker two distinct medicines for a major dermatology market.
🐻 Bear Case
Like-for-Like Profit Rose 17%, Not Over 100%
AbbVie's headline numbers point to an earnings boom, with reported profit per share up more than 2,200% to $2.37 and profit per share excluding one-offs up 105.4% to $3.82. Operating margin excluding one-offs also jumped 17.8 percentage points from a year ago to 48.7%.
Almost all of that jump is an accounting comparison. In the third quarter of 2025, the drugmaker booked $2.68 billion (17.0% of revenue, or $1.50 per share) in upfront research and milestone payments for licensing deals. This quarter, that expense line was $216 million (1.2% of revenue, or $0.11 per share), a drop of 15.8 percentage points of revenue.
By our math, stripping out those upfront deal charges in both periods leaves third-quarter profit per share up 17.0% ($3.93 against $3.36) and operating margin excluding one-offs up 2.0 percentage points (49.9% against 47.9%). Lower selling and administrative costs (-0.4 points of revenue to 21.2%) and research costs (-0.4 points to 13.9%), plus a 1.2-point rise in gross margin excluding one-offs, drove that real 2-point gain.
What to watch: fourth-quarter upfront research and milestone charges. Because management excludes future deal charges from its full-year plan, any fourth-quarter licensing deal will directly cut reported profit per share.
Aesthetics Shrinks Again and Oncology Stands Still
"AbbVie continues to deliver outstanding results, reflecting solid execution across our diverse portfolio," chief executive Robert A. Michael said. The division numbers show that growth comes from two portfolios while the other two struggle.
Aesthetics, which sells cosmetic treatments like Botox Cosmetic and Juvederm dermal fillers, saw revenue fall 1.4% to $1.18 billion (-1.8% at constant currency). While Botox Cosmetic rose 4.9% to $669 million, Juvederm dropped 11.9% to $222 million, extending a multi-year slump in facial fillers. Meanwhile, Oncology revenue rose just 0.8% to $1.70 billion because a 26.1% drop in blood-cancer drug Imbruvica (to $522 million, hurt by competition and Medicare price cuts) nearly erased gains in Venclexta (+10.7% to $803 million) and ovarian-cancer drug Elahere (+31.0% to $224 million).
What to watch: whether management updates or drops its long-term Aesthetics growth targets on the conference call. Continued silence while Juvederm shrinks by double digits would confirm the cosmetic recovery has stalled.
Apogee Deal Closes and Adds Pipeline Costs
AbbVie has stepped up dealmaking to bolster its drug pipeline for the 2030s, a push bulls view as building long-term durability. During the quarter, the company closed its $10.9 billion purchase of Apogee Therapeutics, "deepening AbbVie's robust immunology pipeline with diverse assets targeting dermatologic, respiratory and other inflammatory and immunological diseases", including eczema candidate zumilokibart.
Buying clinical-stage companies carries high upfront costs and trial risk, as seen when AbbVie wrote off $4.5 billion on its Cerevel deal in late 2024. Closing Apogee triggered $408 million ($0.22 per share) in acquisition and integration charges this quarter, alongside $216 million ($0.11 per share) in upfront research milestones. Across the first nine months of 2026, $5.11 billion in intangible asset write-downs and $4.73 billion in contingent liability charges held GAAP profit to $4.79 per share against $10.12 excluding one-offs.
What to watch: late-stage trial plans and ongoing research costs for zumilokibart in 2027. Clinical delays would weigh on returns after the deal added $10 billion in debt financing.
Risks this quarter didn't answer
Four standing concerns could not be tested from the earnings release and await the conference call or quarterly filing.
- Skyrizi patent cliff: Skyrizi reached 33.2% of total revenue by our math, with regulatory data protection ending in 2031 and main patents in 2033; the release gives no detail on secondary patents.
- Oral psoriasis competition: the release does not include prescription share data showing how injectable Skyrizi is holding up against new oral IL-23 pills.
- Medicare price setting: no financial quantification yet for 2027 negotiated Medicare prices on Vraylar and Linzess, or 2028 price setting on Botox.
- Emraclidine trial progress: no update in the release on whether the schizophrenia drug from the Cerevel acquisition entered mid-stage trials after dose testing.
💲 Other KPIs
Gross margin excluding one-offs — the share of sales left after the cost of making the medicines, stripping out $1.67 billion of intangible asset write-downs — rose 1.2 percentage points from 83.9% a year ago and 0.4 points from last quarter. It remains well above management's full-year floor of 84%. GAAP gross margin rose 9.0 points to 75.4%.
AbbVie booked an $829 million pre-tax charge ($0.46 per share after tax) for increases in the estimated value of future royalty and milestone payouts owed to prior acquisition partners, primarily for Skyrizi. While smaller than the $2.39 billion charge in Q1 and $1.52 billion in Q2, the nine-month total reached $4.73 billion ($2.60 per share).
The board raised the quarterly dividend by 5.2% from $1.73 to $1.82 per share starting in February 2027, following last year's 5.5% increase. Weighted-average diluted share count was unchanged from a year ago at 1,772 million shares, meaning per-share profit growth came entirely from earnings rather than share count reduction.
🔮 Guidance
Raised. The drugmaker lifted its full-year profit plan by $0.11 at the middle of the range to $13.97 (up 39.7% from 2025, or 14.9% excluding upfront research milestone charges in both years by our math). That leaves $3.85 for Q4 by our math, up 12.6% excluding last year's Q4 milestone charge. If the $0.07 quarterly operational beat pattern holds, the year would finish near $14.04.
❓ Key Questions
What is the new full-year revenue and segment outlook?
The earnings release only updated the full-year profit per share range. Investors need to know whether management raised its $67.6 billion full-year revenue plan and its $21.7 billion Skyrizi target after beating the third-quarter sales plan by $204 million.
Which specific secondary patents protect Skyrizi past 2033?
Skyrizi now accounts for 33.2% of total company revenue, and its main composition patent expires in 2033 (with data exclusivity ending in 2031). Management has cited later-expiring patents in the mid-2030s but has not disclosed their patent numbers, claim types or legal status.
Is injectable Skyrizi losing psoriasis share to oral pills?
New competing oral IL-23 treatments aim to take patients from injectable drugs. Because the release does not break out Skyrizi revenue by disease or provide new-patient prescription share data, management needs to quantify its capture rate in psoriasis.
Has AbbVie dropped its 2029 Aesthetics sales target?
Aesthetics revenue fell 1.8% at constant currency in the third quarter, led by an 11.8% drop in Juvederm fillers. Management previously targeted high-single-digit annual growth through 2029 (over $7 billion in sales), a goal that now looks out of reach without a major rebound.