Minnesota medical device maker St. Jude Medical marked many milestones this month, including opening a new technology center and watching its stock bounce back after several rough years. And the company announced surgeons have marked their 2 millionth heart valve implant using St. Jude devices.
St. Jude entered the Chinese market in 1996, and just opened its Advanced Technology Center Asia Pacific in Beijing on March 21. The center includes training and education facilities, including a virtual reality center where physicians can attempt procedures in a controlled environment.
Investor's Business Daily's David Saito-Chung noted the company's good stock performance early in the 2000s. The company's stock dropped off during the economic slump in 2006, but St. Jude still has ever-increasing sales and a three-year EPS rating of 2--where 1 is a perfect ranking. The devicemaker has also started issuing quarterly dividends, with the first amounting to 21 cents per share. Saito-Chung notes could bring a dividend yield of 1.6 percent if it continues for three more quarters.
- here's the Investor's Business Daily story