Decreasing sales of medical devices a drag on Medtronic

Medtronic's profits are up, but the company's sales growth has Wall Street disappointed. Shares of the world's largest medical device maker fell about 2 percent today.

For the three months ending January 27, Medtronic reported net earnings of $935 million. That's up $11 million from the same period a year ago. Overall, sales rose. But sales fell sharply for spinal products and cardiac defibrillators.

Aaron Vaughn, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the decreased sales for those products dragged down the results overall, but Medtronic's other ventures, while smaller, grew at a faster rate.

Medtronic has faced strong price competition and falling demand in the defibrillator market. And concerns about the effectiveness of Medtronic's spinal products have hurt their sales.