(Reuters) -Health tech firm Medtronic beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, as a pickup in surgical volumes at hospitals lifted demand for its medical devices.
Investor expectations around the financial performance of medical devices makers have grown lately, owing to a resurgence in demand as people, especially older adults, opted for medical procedures deferred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medtronic forecasts fiscal 2025 adjusted per-share profit in the range of $5.40 to $5.50, with its midpoint in line with analysts’ average estimate of $5.45, according to LSEG data.
The Dublin-based company joins medical device makers such as Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific that have also benefited from soaring demand for non-urgent surgeries.
The company took an adjusted charge of $439 million in the fourth quarter, higher than its previously disclosed estimate of between $350 million and $425 million, related to its decision to exit its unprofitable ventilator product line and reorganize the respiratory and patient monitoring businesses.
Sales at the company’s diabetes unit, which returned to growth in the U.S. last quarter, rose 10.9% in the quarter ended April 26.
However, sales at Medtronic’s heart devices unit, its biggest revenue driver, fell 5.2% to $3.13 billion, missing analysts’ estimate of $3.14 billion.
Its second-biggest unit by revenue, neuroscience, which makes medical devices and implants used in the treatment of the spine and musculoskeletal system, posted a 5.6% rise in sales, topping analysts’ expectations.
The medical technology firm’s total revenue of $8.59 billion beat analysts’ average estimate of $8.44 billion.
It posted adjusted profit of $1.46 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with the $1.45 per share estimated.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
