Medical products business with four divisions—medical devices, branded generics, medical supplies and nutritionals—is expected to report high single-digit sales growth and double-digit earnings growth.

Medical devices will contribute about 27 percent of Abbott's sales after it spins out its research pharmaceuticals unit later this year, CFO Thomas Freyman announced at the J.P. Morgan health care conference in San Francisco.

Last year, Abbott announced its plan to split into two publicly-traded companies, creating a new entity for the research pharma unit and keeping the Abbott name for the remaining medical products businesses. This spin-off is expected to happen by the end of the year. 

Freyman said that the medical products business, led by current Abbott chairman and CEO Miles White, will consist of four divisions: Medical devices, branded generics, medical supplies and nutritionals. He also expected the division to report high single-digit sales growth and double-digit earnings growth.

The Xience drug-eluting stent platform will stay under the Abbott umbrella, Freyman noted. He also revealed that Xience revenues hit an all-time record during the third quarter. Worldwide sales of coronary stents were $521 million for the quarter. 

The devices segment will also keep Abbott's thriving diabetes business, which according to Freyman, is “growing faster than any of our competitors in the [diabetes] sector." 

Abbott posted profits of $303 million on sales of $9.82 billion during the quarter, a 66 percent drop compared with profits of $891 million on sales of $8.68 billion.