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.
