Boston Scientific share price drops after forecast
The share price of medical device-maker Boston Scientific is down about 5 percent after the company forecast a difficult 2011.
The Massachusetts-based company said it believes 2011 earnings will be 8 to 12 percent less than Wall Street had expected.
Medical technology analyst Aaron Vaughn with the Edward Jones brokerage said that is dragging the stock down, even though Boston Scientific reported profits that were better than expected.
"Investors were in general expecting that while it would be a challenging year, that some of the profitability levels would start to be increasing," Vaughn said. "The investors would have liked to see better profitability. And I think the stock is reacting to that guidance."
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The company, which employs thousands of Minnesotans, had net income of $236 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $1.1 billion in the same period in 2009. The big loss a year before stemmed from massive legal and acquisition costs.
Sales of medical implants fell 4 percent, but company cost-cutting efforts were enough to return the company to profitability.
Excluding one-time charges, the company would have earned $313 million. That was better than what analysts predicted.
Boston Scientific said four recent acquisitions would help it deliver more than 150 new products through 2015.