Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Fixing a 9-month colonoscopy queue & rare deflation [Q1 2026]

Abbott Laboratories posted decent Q1 2026 numbers, but a massive $21 billion cancer-testing acquisition has Wall Street spooked by immediate EPS dilution and muddy comparability metrics.In ~10 minutes:• Why 3-to-9 month colonoscopy wait times justify the Exact Sciences buyout.• Abbott’s rare corporate decision to cut adult nutrition prices to revive volume.• Supply chain war rooms buffering local inventory to bypass Middle East shipping.• The exact accounting shift that instantly blurred legacy growth numbers.Abbott’s medical device core, anchored by a 13.2% growth rate, remains an absolute machine. Yet the decision to embed Exact Sciences immediately into "comparable sales" left analysts questioning whether it masks a softening organic diagnostic base, prompting a nearly 5% earnings-day drop. 📉 We unpack the financial optics versus the strategic reality of buying healthcare plumbing.Company: Abbott Laboratories (ABT) | Q1 FY2026AI-assisted production. Feedback/ticker requests: https://x.com/EarnUnscripted.