Plans to pare costs paid off for St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) during the fourth quarter and full year, as a restructuring program returned the St. Paul, Minn.-based medical device maker to the black for Q4.
St. Jude posted $1.2 billion in fourth-quarter sales, up 6.3 percent compared with $1.13 billion during the same period in 2008. Net earnings for the three months ended Jan. 2 were $189.7 million, or 57 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $201.2 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, during Q3 2008.
Full-year sales for STJ topped $4.68 billion, a 7.3 percent increase over $4.36 billion during 2008. Net earnings for 2009 were $777.2 million ($2.26 per diluted share), compared with $353 million ($1.01 per diluted share) during the prior year.
St. Jude said the fourth-quarter results included $33 million in costs incurred from layoffs announced during the third quarter, an $11 million writedown of inventory from discontinued products and a $24 million tax benefit from bonuses the company elected not to pay out during the quarter. Excluding the net $20 million in charges, adjusted Q4 net earnings were $213.6 million (64 cents per adjusted diluted share), compared with $203 million (58 cents per share) during the fourth quarter of 2008. STJ said adjusted net earnings for the full year were $838.2 million or $2.43 per share.
Here’s how the company broke down its sales numbers by segment:
| Q4 sales | % change | 2009 sales | % change | |
| Cardiac Rhythm Management | $698 million | 3% | $2.77 billion | 3% |
| Atrial Fibrillation | $171 million | 10% | $628 million | 15% |
| Neuromodulation | $94 million | 21% | $331 million | 30% |
| Cardiovascular | $240 million | 10% | $953 million | 11% |
St. Jude Medical said it expects consolidated first-quarter earnings of between $0.66 and $0.68 per diluted share and between $2.71 and $2.76 for the full year, up about 12 percent to 14 percent over 2009.
