Boston Scientific lifts annual profit forecast on heart devices strength
(Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday, after strong sales in its cardiovascular devices unit helped the company beat first-quarter estimates.
As the pandemic-induced staffing shortages ease, hospital operators have begun to see a much-awaited recovery in elective surgeries, boosting the demand for medical devices, such as the pacemakers, stents and catheters the company makes.
While analysts were expecting good results stemming from a recovery in medical procedures and product momentum, "this result well exceeded our expectations", J.P.Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus wrote in a note.
Also, at a time when supply chain disruptions and high raw material costs weighed on profit for peers, Boston Scientific in February said its own global supply chain organization helped to reduce costs and improve volumes.
Shares of the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company rose 4.85% to $53.59 in premarket trading.
The company now expects its full-year adjusted profit between $1.90 per share and $1.96 per share, compared with its prior forecast of $1.86-$1.93 per share.
It expects revenue growth of 8.5%-10.5% for 2023, compared with its prior outlook of 5%-7%.
Quarterly sales of Boston Scientific increased 12% to $3.39 billion. Analysts on average estimated $3.16 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
The company's sales in the cardiovascular segment increased 12.7% to $2.1 billion.
Larger rivals Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson, too, saw a recovery in their medical devices sales in the first quarter.
Excluding items, Boston Scientific earned 47 cents per share in the quarter ended March 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of 44 cents per share.
Separately, on Friday, Bloomberg News reported that Boston Scientific is exploring a deal to buy medical device company Shockwave Medical Inc to boost its portfolio of cardiovascular devices.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
