Medtronic’s Earnings Preview

Medtronic ($MDT) reports tomorrow. This will be a key test for the new CEO, Omar Ishrak. Here’s an earnings preview from the AP:

Ishrak said Medtronic must communicate why its new products not only benefit patients, but also save health systems money. As one example he points to the company’s Revo pacemaker, the first such device that is compatible with MRI scanning. Older devices would often malfunction when exposed to the magnetized imaging technique.

Not only will patients benefit from better care, he says, but providers will save money because doctors will spot health problems before they grow into more catastrophic, costly problems.

“If there’s value there, we’ll get paid for it — but that’s not the point,” Ishrak said. “I want to make sure everything we do is geared to have the right economic impact on health care and on customers.”

With Medtronic trailing competitors in developing new versions of stents, heart valves and other key products, analysts hope Ishrak will focus on cost controls, restructuring and selling off underperforming business units.

WHAT’S EXPECTED: Analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of 80 cents per share on revenue of $3.98 billion, on average.

LAST YEAR’S QUARTER: In the first quarter last year Medtronic earned 80 cents per share excluding one-time items on $3.77 billion in revenue.

Posted by on August 22nd, 2011 at 10:03 am


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