Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) shares ticked up when the market opened today on third-quarter results that topped the consensus forecast.
The Fridley, Minn.-based medtech giant posted profits of $1.3 billion, or 94¢ per share, on sales of $7.8 billion for the three months ended Jan. 29, 2021, for a -33.4% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 0.8%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.29, 14¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $7.8 billion.
Medtronic saw a 4% revenue decrease in its cardiac and vascular group as a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 and the dip in procedure volumes, with the largest sub-segment decline for that group coming in the coronary and structural heart business (-7.9%).
However, the company’s other businesses all saw improvements in revenues, with minimally invasive therapies growing by 6.3% thanks to COVID-19-related diagnostics and therapeutics. The diabetes business rose 3.3% and the restorative therapies group at Medtronic ticked up 0.7%.
“Our Q3 results reflect that our business is well on the way to returning to growth, with sequential improvements in both revenue and earnings, despite the impact of the COVID resurgence on procedure volumes in late December and January. We’re outperforming our end markets, as new products are driving share gains in an increasing number of our businesses,” Medtronic chairman & CEO Geoff Martha said in a news release. “Looking ahead, we’re positioning ourselves for long-term success as we implement our new operating model and execute on a number of large opportunities to win share and create and disrupt big markets.”
Martha also announced during an earnings call today that the company is on track to file for a CE Mark and U.S. IDE approval next month for its new Hugo system that is meant to rival Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci robots.
Medtronic said the near-term uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic mean it won’t be providing quarterly or full-year guidance at this time.
MDT shares were up 2.4% at $118.35 per share at market open today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was down -0.6%.
