Preview of Medtronic’s Earnings

Medtronic (MDT) is due to report its earnings tomorrow. The consensus on Wall Street is for earnings of 78 cents a share compared with 72 cents per share a year ago.
In June, the company reaffirmed its earnings growth expectations of 10% a year. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

So, given the uncertainty, the competition and a long-standing, lackluster stock performance, why do 29 analysts have buy or hold ratings on Medtronic’s stock?
Not a sell recommendation in sight.
“Although its growth profile has changed markedly in recent years, Medtronic remains one of the strongest companies in the health care industry,” wrote William Blair & Co. analyst Ben Andrew in a note to investors last month.
Year to date, the company’s stock is up 20.3 percent, compared with the S&P Health Care index, which has inched up just 7.4 percent.
Andrew, who has an “outperform” rating on Medtronic’s stock, cites a stabilizing market for pacemakers and defibrillators and the company’s pipeline of future products, such as an MRI-friendly pacemaker.
“We believe the company’s heavy research-and-development investments will begin to reaccelerate growth in fiscal 2011,” he wrote.

Posted by on August 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pm


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