MDT and GDT stent perceived better than BSX
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Gerard Klauer Cuts Sales Estimate For Boston Scientific On Stent Concerns
Tuesday, February 1, 2000 04:07 PM
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- An analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison lowered his fourth-quarter and full-year sales expectations for medical-device maker Boston Scientific Corp., citing concerns about intensifying competition in the market for coronary stents.
Analyst Jonathan Foster lowered fourth-quarter revenue estimates by $17 million to $695 million and cut 2000 sales estimates by $50 million to $2.95 billion.
Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific (BSX, news, msgs) is a major manufacturer of cardiovascular medical devices, including coronary stents - small wire mesh tubes used to prop open clogged arteries - through its Scimed unit. The company has suffered a series of problems over the last two years, including product recalls, restated earnings and product delays.
Foster's cuts stem from the belief that the company could be losing ground to new stent products recently released by rivals Medtronic Inc. (MDT, news, msgs) and Guidant Corp. (GDT, news, msgs).
Medtronic launched the S670 stent in November, followed almost a month later by Guidant's TriStar. But Boston Scientific's gold-plated stent, the Nir Royale, isn't expected to be launched in the U.S. until later this quarter, followed later this year by the relaunch of the Nir With Sox and the Nir Elite.
Foster cut $10 million from his estimates for Boston Scientific's 1999 fourth-quarter stent sales and trimmed $7 million off 2000 first-quarter estimates.
Boston Scientific reports fourth-quarter earnings next month.
On Jan. 20, Warburg Dillon Read LLC analyst Emil Westergaard lowered his 2000 sales estimate for Boston Scientific, also citing concern about the medical-device company's declining position in the market for coronary stents.
Owned this stock for over five years. After all these MDT acuisitions last year, stablity should make it more competitive as the article above infers.
Jack |
