ANALYSTS OFFER MARKET OUTLOOK FOR U.S. HEART DEVICE FIRMS
The success of the top U.S. heart-device manufacturers in 2007 will depend on the specific market forces individual firms are dealing with, analysts say.
Boston Scientific is currently facing serious challenges to its product lines, including a lack of visibility in the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator market, mounting competition in the European drug-eluting stent market and the timing of U.S. approval for its Taxus Liberté stent, RBC Capital Markets analyst Phil Nalbone said in a Jan. 11 research note.
In looking at the firm's projected fourth-quarter 2006 earnings, sales of its core products declined 1 percent and the firm's Guidant products were down 2.5 percent overall from fourth-quarter 2005 results, Nalbone said.
Overseas, preliminary sales of the Taxus stent line came in "about $13 million below our forecast of $177 million, which underscores the competitive pressures Boston Scientific is facing in the drug-eluting stent market," Nalbone said.