CHICAGO - Pharmaceutical and medical products maker Abbott Laboratories Inc. reported a 19 percent drop in first-quarter profit Wednesday due to acquisition costs, while maintaining momentum in its fast-growing drug business.

Abbott exceeded Wall Street estimates with net income of $697.5 million and posted double-digit revenue gains with help from its anti-inflammatory drug Humira, which saw sales jump 46 percent. The company raised its earnings outlook for the year.

Shares in the company fell 97 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $58.03 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors took profit after the stock had surged more than 50 percent since the beginning of last year, reaching an all-time high of $59.40 on Tuesday.

Analysts said the results were strong although the 15.5 percent sales growth was somewhat misleading. The growth was attributable largely to the exclusion of the diagnostics business that Abbott has agreed to sell to General Electric Co. and the inclusion of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was acquired in the fourth quarter for $3.7 billion.

JP Morgan's Michael Weinstein said in a note to investors that "the outlook for key business drivers like Humira remains solid."

Company executives said on a conference call that Abbott remains on track to exceed $2.7 billion in worldwide Humira sales this year as it moves to expand its applications.

Net income amounted to 45 cents per share and was down from $864.9 million, or 56 cents per share, a year ago.

Among numerous charges, the North Chicago, Ill.-based company wrote down the value of its holdings in Boston Scientific and incurred integration costs related to last year's purchase of assets from that company.

Excluding those items and certain discontinued operations, earnings were 55 cents per share, or 3 cents better than the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose to $5.29 billion from $4.58 billion last year, driven by $571 million in Humira sales. Analysts had forecast total revenue of $5.26 billion.

Abbott raised its full-year guidance by 2 cents per share to a range of $2.79 per share to $2.85 per share, citing higher-than-expected TAP joint venture income this quarter.

"Our businesses continue to perform well and our outlook remains strong," Chairman and CEO Miles White said. "Our late-stage pipeline is generating significant opportunities across our diverse portfolio, giving us great confidence in our future."

Analyst Glenn Novarro of Banc of America Securities said Abbott has "prospects for robust sales and earnings growth from its key pharmaceutical products and the significant opportunity to penetrate the $5-6 billion drug-eluting stent market."