Last October, we were greeted with the news that pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories (ABT) would be splittinginto two partner companies. One company, that will retain the traditional Abbott name, will become responsible for the company’s extensive range of nutritional drinks and healthcare drugs along with other related products. The new “spinoff” company, AbbVie, will focus on pharmaceuticals, in particular Abbott Laboratories’ success story Humira, a drug that treats a number of types of arthritis, as well as other conditions such as Crohn’s Disease (and generated sales of almost eight billion U.S. dollars last year). It is expected Abbott Laboratories will complete the company split towards the end of this year.

News that plans for Abbott Laboratories to revolutionize its company structure are going full steam ahead are sure to be of great interest to investors; the stock is currently trading at just above $61 U.S. dollars. With prospects looking so good for the company, in both its pharmaceutical and healthcare divisions, is now the right time to invest? It seems incredibly unlikely that Abbott Laboratories would back out on its plans at this stage (a movement that would no doubt see its stock price plummet.) Even the most risk averse of investors can see little motive in not buying shares in the company, which should go from strength to strength over the next few years.

Abbott Laboratories closest rival in healthcare is Merck (MRK), the world’s second largest company in the industry, and it now seems very much certain that Merck will soon be competing with a far more specialized Abbott Laboratories.To continue reading, click here.

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