St. Jude reports earnings, sales up in last quarter

Little-Canada-based St. Jude Medical on Wednesday reported earnings that were in line with Wall Street's expectations.

For the final three months of 2010, the company had net income of $206 million on sales of nearly $1.4 billion. Compared with the same quarter a year before, earnings rose 5 percent and sales increased 12 percent.

The company said it will be putting more money into developing new products. That will reduce earnings in the short-term. But Morningstar medical technology analyst Debbie Wang said it's a smart long-term decision.

"Especially for anybody interested in owning shares of this company as a long-term investors, you want to make sure that innovation is healthy," she said.

Wang said the company has ways to trim other costs and that it is fortunate to have several plants built off-shore over in Costa Rica and Malaysia. She said that should bring down some of their manufacturing costs gradually.

St. Jude said it expects sales to grow this year as it introduces several new products. It estimates its 2011 sales will rise by as much as 13 percent to $5.8 billion.