The financial news website did not say how the source knows the information or why they are not being identified by name.
“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation,” Medtronic spokesperson Erika Winkels said today.
Shockwave Medical said the same in an email from spokesperson Scott Shadiow. Johnson & Johnson has not yet responded to requests for comment, but we’ll update this post if they do.
Bloomberg last month said that Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) was also eying Shockwave. The Bloomberg report cited “people with knowledge of the matter” — who asked not to be named due to the privacy of the talks.
There’s no doubt Shockwave is hot.
Its intravascular lithotripsy technology uses sonic pressure waves to treat patients with calcified arterial plaque. Founded in 2009 by John Adams, Todd Brinton, Daniel Hawkins, the cardiovascular tech company is now one of the largest medical device companies in the world.
Shockwave went public in 2019, with its stock price closing at $30.50 at the end of its first day of trading. The stock has increased more than 900% to an all-time high of $320.54 per share last August.
The stock was trading around $299 today, up 55% year to date and above Boston Scientific’s reported bid of $275 per share. It should be noted that StreetInsider’s latest report said Shockwave is looking for a bid closer to $300 per share, so the latest stock price could reflect speculators pricing in a rumored deal.
Previously: Medtronic’s M&A strategy explained by CFO Karen Parkhill
“We’re very focused on the task at hand of trying to create as strong a company as we can,” Shockwave CEO Douglas Goodhall said on this week’s Q1 2023 earnings call.
He had good news to share on the call. Sales were up 72% to $161.1 million for the quarter, while net income climbed 170% to $39.1 million.
“Our global teams’ execution continues to be extraordinary, as demonstrated by our record results in all of our product and geographic areas,” Godshall said in the earnings release. “The consistent high growth we have experienced over the past few years has further reinforced our drive to continue rapidly growing our core IVL business and to also innovate and develop additional solutions for patients with unmet needs.”
Shockwave Medical is also one of the top research and development spenders when measured against the world’s largest medical device companies and how much of their revenue they spend on R&D.
Medtronic — the largest company in medtech — has an appetite for cardio innovation, paying $1 billion last year for cardiac mapping and ablation technology developer Affera.
Related: Why Affera’s cardiac ablation technology is worth $1B to Medtronic
Johnson & Johnson, whose medtech business is the medical device industry’s second-largest player, is also buying in cardio. Johnson & Johnson MedTech closed its $16.6 billion acquisition of heart pump developer Abiomed in December.
