The waters around the good ship Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) have been a bit frothy these days.
The world’s largest pure-play medical device maker has had a busy 2011: The Fridley, Minn.-based company announced a new CEO (Omar Ishrak) to replace the retiring William Hawkins, spiked a $2 billion contract with one of the largest group purchasing organizations in the hospital industry and is one of three combatants in a battle royale over market share in the suddenly chilly cardiac rhythm management market.