Covidien (NYSE:COV) shares are under pressure from investors this morning after the company reported a profit decline for its fiscal 2nd quarter.
The Mansfield, Mass.-based company, which is close to pulling the trigger on the spinout of out its Mallinckrodt pharmaceuticals business, reported profits of $439 million, or 92¢ per share, on sales of $3.10 billion for the 3 months ended March 29. Profits were down 11.7% compared with Q2 2012, despite sales growth 5.3%.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $1.12, 2¢ above analysts’ predictions on Wall Street.
"Our second-quarter performance was paced by broad-based top-line growth and an increase in earnings per share," chairman, president & CEO José Almeida said in prepared remarks. "Once again, in our medical devices segment, strong results in stapling, vessel sealing and neurovascular products were the key drivers of our growth."
Sales for Covidien’s core medical device business were $2.09 billion during the quarter, up 4.3%.
Covidien said it plans to issue restated financials for the past 3 years to reflect the effects of the pharma spinout May 3, when it also plans to reveal its outlook for both post-spinout Covidien and for the independent Mallinckrodt entity.
COV shares were trading at $61.91 as of about 10:50 this morning, down 6.7%.