Upbeat quarterly results lift Medtronic shares

Medical device company Medtronic (MDT) posted better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, sending its shares up. Earnings during the quarter came in at $1.07 a share. Excluding items, the company earned $1.42, topping analysts’ estimate of $1.39. Revenue came in at $8.1 billion, meeting the consensus estimate of $8 billion.

During the quarter, U.S. revenue came in at $4.187 billion, representing 52% of company revenue. The U.S. revenue increased 5.3% on a comparable basis. Non-U.S. developed market revenue was $2.718 billion which represented 33% of company revenue, and emerging market revenue came in at $1.239 billion representing 15% of company revenue.

“We overcame several challenges in the first half of our fiscal year to deliver a strong second half, led by 6.5 percent organic revenue growth. We came in at the high end of both the revenue and EPS guidance we established at the start of the year,” said Omar Ishrak, CEO.

The cardiac and vascular unit reported sales growth of 10% to $3.14 billion. Sales in the Coronary & Structural Heart (CSH) unit rose 18.7% to $1.01 billion. Strong global demand for the new sensor-augmented insulin pump systems, boosted the total sales of diabetes unit by 26% to $645 million.

For fiscal 2019, the Fridley, Minnesota-based company expects organic revenue growth to be in the range of 4.0 to 4.5%. Revenue would be negatively affected by approximately $50-150 million. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be in the range of $5.10 to $5.15.