Medtronic Earns 93 Cents Per Share

The stock market is doing well this morning. The S&P 500 has been as high as 1,526.82, which is yet another multi-year high. The market is trying to extend its weekly winning streak to eight. This is a good way to start.

Investors have impressively run past a lot of minor negatives that easily could have hurt stocks in previous markets. The earnings news continues to be decent. The latest numbers show that 388 companies in the S&P 500 have reported Q4 earnings. Of that, 69.8% have beaten expectations. Compare that with the long-run average of 62%. Earnings are up 5.6% from one year ago, and 1.9% above expectations.

Our latest Buy List stock to report earnings was Medtronic ($MDT). For their fiscal third quarter, Medtronic earned 93 cents per share which was two cents better than Wall Street’s forecast. That’s an increase from 84 cents per share a year ago. Sales rose 2.8% to $4.03 billion which was $10 million below forecasts.

Medtronic once again reiterated their full-year earnings forecast of $3.66 to $3.70 per share. For clarity, Medtronic’s fiscal year ends in April. MDT is our first Buy List stock in the January-April-July-October cycle to report earnings. The shares are currently down about 3.3% although I don’t see why. In today’s earnings release, the CEO said:

“We are playing a leading role in transforming global healthcare by implementing our long-term strategies of economic value and globalization,” said Ishrak. “We are only at the beginning of establishing our track record, but we believe that crisp execution of both our baseline and long-term growth strategies, combined with strong and disciplined capital allocation, will enable us to create long-term dependable value in healthcare.”

Shawn Tully at CNN/Money makes a good point about Medtronic. The dividend yield is 2.3% and the repurchases come to 3.7% for a total shareholder yield of 6.0%.

Posted by on February 19th, 2013 at 10:35 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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