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Biotech / Medical : Medtronic (MDT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Geriq who wrote (589)	10/2/2002 8:29:21 PM
From: Dennis	Respond to of 687

i guess the news will put guidant behind the eight ball....hope mdt is moving forward with stent technology as fast as possible....looks like it will be a huge market in the near future...all us boomers aren't getting any younger you know...gg I've held mdt for about 15 yrs now....great company. The only one I have NOT sold.

To: Geriq who wrote (589)	10/6/2002 2:09:30 PM
From: Dennis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 687

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2002 10:00 AM - Reuters U.S. Company News In Oct. 1 story headlined "Medtronic vows to rebuild vascular business", please read in paragraph 9 ... "European regulatory approval of a new stent delivery system" ... instead of "U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval ..." (Corrects where system was approved for marketing). A corrected version follows. By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc. (MDT) , which has fallen far behind rival Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in the race to develop a key treatment for diseased heart arteries, on Tuesday vowed to rebuild its ailing vascular business unit. The world's largest medical device maker said it expects to have a drug-coated stent on the U.S. market by the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005, and that it expects to capture 15 percent of the market by 2007. The tiny wire mesh tubes -- or stents -- are coated with medicine to keep diseased arteries open and free of blockages. Doctors expect the devices to revolutionize the treatment of coronary artery disease by reducing the buildup of scar tissue that frequently grows around an artery treated with a bare metal stent. "We have recently faced a number of challenges in the marketplace," Bill Hawkins, president of Medtronic's Vascular division, said at an annual investors' conference. "Even though we may be on a downswing this year and perhaps the next year, we believe we can turn that around and see exceptional growth in the years to follow," Hawkins said. The Minneapolis-based maker of insulin pumps, pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators saw sales in the $900 million vascular division flatten out during most of 2002. That followed an unfavorable patent ruling last November that forced Medtronic to exit the popular rapid exchange stent delivery system in the United States. Hawkins said Medtronic's challenges include developing a drug-eluting stent platform to compete with Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to receive marketing clearance for the device at the beginning of 2003. "Our timing in drug-eluting stents will affect our short-term growth, but these challenges will not impede our process of rebuilding," Hawkins told investors at the meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet. Medtronic last month received European regulatory approval of a new stent delivery system that will become part of the company's stent platform. Hawkins said Medtronic expects to begin a major U.S. clinical trial of its new coated stent next summer. In the meantime, the company will rely on accelerating sales in its Cardiac Rhythm Management business, which accounts for about half of Medtronic's sales. The unit had sales growth of 18 percent in the fiscal first quarter ended July 26, and the company projects a similar performance in the coming quarter. Part of that growth has been driven by sales of devices to treat congestive heart failure, a new category of pacemakers that has seen rapid adoption in the past year, generating annualized sales of $450 million. Medtronic also said it will benefit from new guidelines from three leading cardiology groups recommending expanded use of implantable defibrillators, which treat patients at risk of sudden cardiac death. The new indication could double the potential pool of patients needing a defibrillator to 600,000 a year. Medtronic Chief Executive Art Collins said ICD sales in the first fiscal quarter rose 33 percent, and said sales in the second quarter will be at least that strong. Collins said the company will continue to spend about $750 million a year on research and development to bolster its product pipeline. He said two-thirds of the revenue Medtronic generates comes from products launched in the past two years. The company repeated financial guidance issued on Sept. 9, backing analysts' full-year consensus estimate of $1.41 and second-quarter earnings of 34 cents per share. Medtronic shares ended 2.3 percent higher at $43.09 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The shares have fallen about 16 percent since the beginning of the year, compared with a 19 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's Health Care Equipment index, which numbers Medtronic among its 11 components. © Reuters 2002. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. MDT 43.20 +0.27 Enter Symbol: Enter Keyword:

To: Geriq who wrote (589)	11/18/2002 8:34:00 PM
From: Dennis	Respond to of 687

Got to love this company for a LONG term investment....I compared to other stocks the other day....GE, MSFT, SPY, etc. etc.,.....3 year, 5 year, 10 year, even time span shorter than 1 year...mdt won EVERYTIME !!!....here is why !!!!!....... Article for Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) 7:47 PM most recent headlines UPDATE 2-Medtronic profit pumped by heart device sales MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2002 7:47 PM - Reuters U.S. Company News (Adds CEO interview, details, byline, changes dateline, previous Minneapolis) By Susan Nadeau CHICAGO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc. (MDT) , the world's largest medical device maker, said on Monday its fiscal second quarter profit rose, driven by strong sales of devices to treat congestive heart failure and irregular heart rhythms. The Minneapolis-based maker of insulin pumps, pacemakers and spinal surgery products posted stronger-than-expected sales, and gave up a chance to beat Wall Street earnings estimates by socking the extra revenue into hiring more sales representatives and boosting research and development. "They were disciplined enough to spend it (additional revenue) appropriately on beefing up their selling effort and increasing R&D," said Kurt Kruger, an analyst with Banc of America Securities. "They could have come in a penny higher, but instead they put a lot of water between them and their nearest competitors," he added, referring to Guidant Corp. (GDT) and St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) Medtronic posted net earnings for its fiscal second quarter ended Oct. 31 increased to $301.7 million or 25 cents a share, up from $66.7 million or 5 cents a share last year. Both periods include charges related to acquisitions. Excluding the charges in this year's quarter, which were due mainly to the acquisition of Spinal Dynamics Corp., Medtronic earned 34 cents a share. That matched Wall Street expectations, according to research firm Thomson First Call which tracks analysts' estimates. Medtronic said revenues rose 19.1 percent on a constant currency basis to $1.89 billion. "Sales were better than expected - top line is real solid across the board," said Daniel Lemaitre, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. In after hours trading on Instinet, Medtronic traded as high as $46.90 per share, compared to its close Monday at $46.55. In the past year the stock has traded between $32.50 and $51.68. Cardiac Rhythm Management sales, which include defibrillators and pacemakers as well as the company's InSync ICD device for heart failure which received regulatory approval earlier this year, rose 26 percent to $904.8 million. Medtronic said its heart failure device business alone has annualized sales of about $500 million. Analysts have said that recent research by rival Guidant Corp. has given a boost to the market for implantable cardioverter defibrillators, a device to regulate extremely rapid and irregular heart rhythms, after showing ICDs can help more people suffering from heart problems than originally indicated. Regulators are considering whether Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, should cover ICDs for the additional patients. A decision is expected soon, and a positive outcome would fuel even more sales. "If you look at the underlying data, we feel it is very strong," Art Collins, chairman and chief executive of Medtronic, said in an interview. "We firmly believe the product should be reimbursed." Medtronic said sales of its Infuse Bone Graft, a product which got U.S. regulatory approval earlier this year for use in spinal fusion surgery, helped push sales in its spinal and ear, nose and throat unit 31 percent higher to $322.8 million, better than had been anticipated. But, as expected, Medtronic's vascular business lost sales compared to last year, down 21 percent to $193.6 million. While Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) are planning to launch new drug-coated stents next year, Medtronic, in a partnership with Abbott Laboratories Inc. (ABT) , is still planning the first human clinical trials for its product, due to begin late this year or early 2003. Drug-coated stents, tiny medicine-coated tubes inserted into arteries to prop them open and help keep them from reclogging, are expected to double the size of the overall stent market to $5 billion in a couple of years. But Collins pointed out that the vascular business, which includes stents, contributes only a small portion of the company's sales. Earlier on Monday, Medtronic announced a limited market release of its S7 Zipper MX stent, which takes the place of a stent pulled because of a patent infringement dispute. The new Zipper stent will be the basis for Medtronic's drug-coated stent products. "Anything to increase our vascular business is only upside to us," Collins said. © Reuters 2002. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. MDT 46.55 -0.79 Enter Symbol: Enter Keyword: most recent headlines News See Industry Analyst Estimates SEC Filings Market Advisers Company Profile Insiders Alerts the only problem i see is that it is expensive...still high PE...so i guess we are stuck in a narrow range....demographics is great...we boomers ain't gettin no younger...:o( saw one upgrade with 12 month target of 53...big deal.