Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today beat the consensus forecast with its fiscal 3rd-quarter results, despite a -25% profit slide, sending shares up slightly in pre-market trading.
The Fridley, Minn.-based medical device giant posted profits of $821 million, or 59¢ per share, on sales of $7.28 billion for the 3 months ended Jan. 27. That’s a -25.0% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 5.0%, compared with Q3 2016.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $1.17, 6¢ ahead of the consensus on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $7.22 billion.
“In Q3, we achieved solid results across all of our business groups and geographies. At the same time, we produced meaningful operating profit growth based largely on our synergy programs from the Covidien integration, as well as our focus on operating excellence initiatives,” chairman & CEO Omar Ishrak said in prepared remarks. “We remain confident in our ability to deliver mid-single-digit constant-currency revenue growth and double-digit constant-currency EPS growth, not only in our current fiscal year, but also into the future. With our differentiated growth platforms and leadership in strong healthcare growth markets, we believe we are well positioned to create long-term, dependable value for our shareholders.”
Medtronic said it still expects to report adjusted EPS of $4.55 to $4.60 on adjusted sales growth in the mid-single-digit range. Fiscal 4th-quarter revenue growth is pegged at the lower half of the mid-single-digit range, the company said.
The news sent MDT shares up 0.3% to $79.10 apiece today as of about 6:45 am Eastern. The stock closed up 1.1% at $78.88 yesterday.
Diabetes leads the pack
Sales for Medtronic’s smallest division, diabetes, grew the most at 5.7%, to $501 million. It’s largest segment, cardiac & vascular, grew 5.5% to $2.55 billion. Sales were $2.42 billion for the minimally invasive therapies unit, also up 5.5%, and restorative therapies came in at $1.82 billion, up 3.7%.
In the U.S., diabetes sales grew 3.6% to $4.11 billion during the quarter. The CV group was up 5.1% to $1.32 billion, with MIT up 2.2% to $1.23 billion and RT up 2.7% to $1.24 billion. Overall U.S. sales grew 3.6% to $4.11 billion, the company said.
Sales in developed markets outside the U.S. were $2.19 billion, up 6.1%; sales in emerging markets jumped 9.0% to $984 million, Medtronic said.