$36.86
-0.10 (-0.27%)
St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ)
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Develops, manufactures and distributes cardiovascular medical devices for the cardiac rhythm management, cardiac surgery, cardiology, and atrial fibrillation therapy areas and implantable neuromodulation devices for the management of chronic pain.
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St. Jude Medical, Inc. develops, manufactures and distributes cardiovascular medical devices. They operate under five segments Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM), Cardiac Surgery (CS), Neuromodulation (Neuro), Cardiology (CD) and Atrial Fibrillation (AF). The major geographic markets for their products are the United States, Europe and Japan. They also sell products in Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.
Company posted solid fiscal year 2006 results with net income surging up by 39%, primarily driven by higher sales from pacemaker division, increased ICD product sales, higher sales from CRM division and favorable foreign currency translation. The above factors show an encouraging signs for the company.
The neuromodulation market is one of medical technology’s fastest growing segments. The above promises a positive outlook for the company in its Neuromodulation segment, started in November 2005 after acquisition of Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. Endorsing the same there was a strong growth in neuromodulation segment of the company, which increased by 17% from the previous year.
St. Jude announced that they are combining the Cardiac Surgery and Cardiology divisions, (which together provides 23% of annual sales) into a new Cardiovascular division that will incorporate all activities previously managed by both the divisions. This combination is estimated to improve operating efficiencies and thereby enabling them to increase investment in product development.
St. Jude estimates ICD market to grow by 10% till 2008, considering the annual death rates caused by sudden cardiac arrest in U.S. It has also given a sales guidance for 2007 that states a 15% growth over 2006 from all of its product platforms. Judging by the way of company’s performance and its future development in next-generation devices, the fundamentals look sound for the STJ.
St. Jude Medical, the leading maker of mechanical heart valves, pacemakers, defibrillators and other cardiac devices, is heading towards a high technological growth. The company introduced several new products in the past two months and got them approved by FDA. They introduced products like The Atlas which is the new cardiac rhythm management device, OptiSense lead, the "smart" pacing lead designed to offer more accurate sensing in upper chamber of heart and a new line of cardiac pacemakers.
Recently, the company has announced FDA approval of the Merlin.net Patient Care Network (PCN), an internet-based central repository for patient device data that enables physicians and clinicians to connect directly to their patients’ stored device data at any time, from anywhere, that internet access is available. These new technological innovations by the company will help them to achieve high profits in the future.
In the latest quarterly results, St. Jude reported an increase in sales by 13% led by growth in sales of ICDs and pacemakers as well as products to treat atrial fibrillation. ICD and pacemaker net sales grew 15% and 12%, respectively, while AF net sales increased 27%. Net earnings increased by 6% due to incremental profits resulting from higher sales. From April 2006 through May 8, 2007, the company returned $1.7 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases, thereby ensuring its earnings per share to surge by 14%
Considering the strong financial performance and the introduction of new and innovative products and services by the company, it seems to be on a high growth trajectory and is expected to perform well in the future.