Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) shares rose before the market opened today on fourth-quarter results that came in mixed compared to the consensus forecast.
Shares of BSX were up more than 1% at $46.97 apiece by midday trading today. MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — rose more than 11%.
The Marlborough, Massachusetts–based company posted profits of $140 million. That amounts to 9¢ per share on sales of $3.242 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022.
Boston Scientific registered a 48.9% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 3.7%. The company’s MedSurg business reported 4.4% revenue growth, while its Cardiovascular arm grew by 6.4%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share came in at 45¢. That fell 2¢ shy of expectations on Wall Street. The company attributed a negative impact of 4¢ on adjusted EPS to unplanned reserves established for Italian government payback provisions.
Boston Scientific posted a marginal sales beat, though, as analysts expected revenues of $3.24 billion.
“Our global team continues living our mission to transform lives, and I’m proud of the results we achieved in the fourth quarter and throughout 2022,” said CEO Mike Mahoney. “In the year ahead, we remain committed to our goals of delivering new, meaningful innovations to benefit patients globally while continuing to deliver differentiated financial performance.”
In their initial thoughts about Boston Scientific’s earnings, Truist analysts said they thought that the earnings miss headlines would be quickly overlooked since the miss was attributable to the unplanned reserves. In a later note, they described the report as a “solid finish” to the year.
Boston Scientific expects sales growth in 2023 to range between 5% and 7%. It projects adjusted EPS to land between $1.86 and $1.93 for the year. In the first quarter, the company expects growth between 3% and 5% and adjusted EPS between 42¢ and 44¢.
