The past week has featured a host of device company Q3 earnings. Edwards Lifesciences and Kinetic Concepts had relatively good news for investors, while Hospira's net income fell. Hospira also provided an update on its Symbiq drug-infusion pumps recalled earlier this year.
- Edwards Lifesciences posted slightly higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, as strong European sales of its transcatheter heart valves overcame flat U.S. demand for its surgical heart valves. "Our surgical heart valve sales grew 3.4 percent on an underlying basis and we continued to see strong global adoption of our newer products," Michael Mussallem, Edwards Lifesciences' chairman and CEO, says in a statement. "Sales were flat in a challenging U.S. environment, while outside the U.S. we gained share." Edwards release | Report
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San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts earned $75.8 million, or $1.06 a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That represents a 17 percent increase from the same period last year, when it generated net income of $64.6 million, or 91 cents a share. "I am pleased with our third quarter performance, particularly in our important US V.A.C.(R) Therapy segment which grew both year-over-year and sequentially," says Catherine Burzik, president and CEO of KCI. "Additionally, we are now realizing benefits from our strategic investments: AHS expansion into Japan, LifeCell expansion into EMEA and introduction of innovative therapies including: V.A.C.VIA(TM), single patient use V.A.C.(R) Therapy, ABThera(TM) for the open abdomen and Prevena(TM) for surgically-closed incisions. We believe these initiatives hold great promise for our future." KCI release | Story
- Lake Forest, IL-based Hospira, maker of generic injectable drugs and medication delivery devices, had much to discuss during its earnings presentation. It said net income fell to $71.4 million, or 42 cents a share in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares to $116.2 million, or 71 cents in Q3 2009. CEO Christopher Begley also said the company's board will be interviewing candidates to succeed him in the next two months from a newly-created "short list." In addition, the company has decided to upgrade the software on the Symbiq drug-infusion pumps it recalled earlier this year, and a hold on shipping pumps will extend into next year and until that upgrade gets regulatory clearance, Begley said. Hospira release | Article | Report | News