Analysts on Wall Street aren’t expecting heart-stopping numbers from cardiac device maker Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) when it releases its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell today.
A consensus estimate culled from 22 analysts on The Street predicts that the Natick, Mass.-based medical device maker will post about $1.90 billion in sales for the three months ended March 31, a 3 percent decline from $1.96 billion during the same period last year. Still, Wall Street seems confident in Boston Scientific’s ability to turn the $1.6 billion loss it put up last year into a $64 million profit.
They’re bets are riding on CEO Ray Elliott, the handpicked turnaround artist, and the execution of his plan for what Elliott calls a “difficult but necessary transition year that will set the table for 2012.”
BSX, which is set to hold a conference call with investors tomorrow morning, topped Q4 earnings estimates, reversing the $1.2 billion loss it posted in Q4 2009 to profits of $349 million, or 15 cents per diluted share. Analysts were expecting EPS of 8 cents to 12 cents.
Boston Scientific hasn’t set the Q1 bar very high for itself itself, forecasting full-year 2011 sales of between $7.5 billion and $7.9 billion and non-GAAP EPS of 53 cents to 68 cents (Q1 GAAP EPS are pegged to hit 30 cents to 38 cents on sales of between $1.83 billion and $1.93 billion).
In early February, Elliott told investors that the company needed to pull itself up by its bootstraps and do the dirty work necessary to turn the ship around. Boston Scientific posted nearly $8 billion in sales last year, but was still unable to swing a profit.
“Somewhere along the way you have to bite the bullet and do the right stuff,” Elliott said.
Wall Street has shied from biting along with Elliott, with BSX shares hovering just under $7 apiece.
Last week, Boston Scientific began serving pink slips to about 10 percent of its workforce in its cardiology, rhythm and vascular business in the Twin Cities area.
The unit, which manufactures pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators, is Boston Scientific’s largest and conducts the majority of its operations in Arden Hills, Minn. and Maple Grove, Minn. The company hasn’t revealed exactly how many employees would lose their jobs.