Boston Scientific
(NYSE: BSX)
shares were up this morning on fourth-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street.
Shares of BSX rose more than 2% to $105.77 apiece in morning trading today.
The Marlborough, Massachusetts–based medtech company reported profits of $566 million. That equals 38¢ per share on sales of $4.56 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2024.
Boston Scientific recorded a 12.3% bottom-line gain on a sales uptick of 22.4%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share came in at 70¢. That landed 4¢ ahead of expectations on Wall Street. Sales also topped estimates as experts forecast $4.42 billion in revenue.
Highlights for the quarter included significant study data backing the company’s Farapulse and Watchman systems. Boston Scientific expects those to be growth drivers in the coming year. Both technologies fall within the company’s Cardiovascular business, which recorded 28.8% sales growth in the quarter. MedSurg grew by 12.4%.
Additionally, the company remained busy on the M&A path, closing acquisitions of Axonics and Cortex. Boston Scientific also announced deals to acquire Bolt Medical and Intera Oncology.
“2024 was one of the best years in the history of Boston Scientific, fueled by our innovative portfolio, the launch of our Farapulse pulsed field ablation system as well as significant clinical achievements and commercial excellence across businesses and regions,” said Mike Mahoney, chair and CEO, Boston Scientific. “We have a strong foundation for growth, and I am incredibly grateful for our talented global team and the opportunity to continue transforming the lives of millions of patients around the world.”
Boston Scientific expects full-year sales growth to range between 12.5% and 14.5% in 2025. It estimates adjusted EPS between $2.80 and $2.87.
The analysts’ take on Boston Scientific
BTIG analysts Marie Thibault, Sam Eiber and Alexandra Pang maintained a “Buy” rating for Boston Scientific. They say the company “keeps winning” while exceeding high expectations.
“[Boston Scientific] is proving that it not only can meet high expectations, but exceed them with crisp commercial execution across its business units and geographies,” the analysts wrote. “We think much of this momentum is sustainable despite new competitive entrants in the PFA market, as the AF market continues to rapidly shift away from thermal ablation modalities.”
They called the company “the first mover” with the deepest pipeline. It also adds the Cortex technology to its portfolio while expecting a label expansion into persistent AFib later this year. The analysts expect FDA approval for the focal Farapoint catheter by the end of 2025 and a next-generation ICE catheter in 2026.
“Beyond PFA, we expect [Boston Scientific] to keep taking aim at fast-growing markets,” the analysts added.
