Top officials at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) are eager to acquire companies with technologies that could enhance their MedTech business.
That was one of the big takeaways yesterday from the company’s earnings call. MedTech is rebounding well from the COVID-19 pandemic, with revenues up 5.9% year-over-year in the first quarter.
The company is reaching its lowest net debt levels and is looking for mergers that are a strategic fit for MedTech, CFO Joe Wolk said during the earnings call, transcribed by The Motley Fool.
“I would not get overly locked into size. … Really the outliers are these larger acquisitions. But we look at really the strategic merit and then the financial value creation and don’t get locked into saying something is too small or too big with respect to adding to our already dynamic internal portfolio and pipeline,” Wolk said.
Added MedTech’s EVP Ashley McEvoy: “We’re going to continue to do tuck-ins and to really digitize the patient experience.”
J&J already closed two medtech acquisitions in the first quarter:
- Cuptimize hip-spine analysis will help enhance DePuy Synthes’ Velys hip navigation in its digital surgery platform of connected technologies;
- DePuy Synthes also bought CrossRoads Extremity Systems, which develops a range of procedure-specific, sterile-packed implants and instrumentation systems in the fast-growing elective foot and ankle space.
J&J will likely become even more focused on MedTech and its pharmaceuticals business after the spinoff of its consumer health business, which is still on track to take place in 2023.
