The turnaround continues at Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), which today posted sales and earnings numbers for the 2nd quarter that beat both its own guidance and expectations on Wall Street.
The strong returns prompted Marlborough, Mass.-based Boston Scientific to boost its sales and earnings guidance for the rest of the year, sending BSX shares up 0.2% to $13.05 apiece in pre-market trading this morning. The stock opened at $13.09, up 0.5%, and was trading at $13.04 as of about 9:50 a.m. for a 0.2% gain.
Boston Scientific reported profits of $4 million, or no cents per share, on sales of $1.87 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for a bottom-line decline of -96.9% on sales growth of 3.5% compared with the same period last year. But adjusted to exclude 1-time items (some $281 million worth, including impairment charges, acquisition and divestiture credits, litigation and restructuring charges, discrete tax items and amortization expense), profits were $285 million, or 21¢ per share, compared with -$31 million, or 18¢, during Q2 2013.
“We had a strong 2nd quarter, delivering balanced growth across our divisions,” president & CEO Mike Mahoney said in prepared remarks. “In particular, we are pleased with the improvement in both our interventional cardiology and cardiac rhythm management divisions. We remain confident in both our strategy and in our outlook for the year.”
Sales for Boston’s bread-and-butter ICD and DES businesses grew both in the U.S. and overall. Defibrillator sales were $223 million in the U.S., up 4.7%, and grew 3.8% to $355 million overall. Drug-eluting stent sales were $127 million at home and $298 million overall, up 8.5% and 3.8%, respectively.
Boston Scientific said it now expects to post full-year adjusted EPS of 79¢-83¢, up from prior guidance of 77¢-82¢, and raised its sales forecast to $7.325 billion to $7.425 billion, up from $7.30 to $7.50 billion.
Third-quarter adjusted EPS are pegged at 18¢-20¢ on sales of $1.79 billion to $1.84 billion, according to a press release.
