St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) said it’s likely to top the high end of its 4th-quarter outlook for both sales and earnings, predicting 4% revenue growth and a bottom-line gain of as much as 154% for the 3 months ended Dec. 28, 2013, compared with the same period in 2012.

St. Jude forecast preliminary earnings per share of 97¢-99¢ on sales of $1.42 billion for the quarter, with adjusted EPS excluding 1-time items of $1.52-$1.54.

Prior guidance called for 4th-quarter adjusted EPS of 95¢-97¢ on sales of $1.32 billion to $1.40 billion.

"At the start of 2013, we talked about our plan to accelerate sales throughout the year. St. Jude Medical delivered on that plan each quarter of 2013. Sales improved from a decline in the first quarter of 2013 to growth at a mid-single digit rate in the fourth quarter of 2013. This broad-based improvement in sales growth can be attributed to encouraging market dynamics and the launch of new products in each of our businesses," said chairman, president & CEO Daniel Starks in prepared remarks. Starks is slated to present at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference later today; stay tuned to MassDevice.com for continuing coverage of the conference.

St. Jude also broke out the details on its major segments, including cardiac rhythm management, implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers. Fourth-quarter CRM sales were roughly $705 million, up 3% compared with Q4 2012; ICD sales were up 5%, to $442 million, with pacemaker sales rising 1% to $263 million, according to a press release.