Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak pushed back Tuesday on a Barclays research note that said the U.S. medical device maker took a “step back” following disappointing comments on the company’s outlook from Ishrak at the 2019 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
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The medical device maker has “the strongest pipeline that we’ve ever had in this company,” Ishrak told CNBC’s Jim Cramer from the 37th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California. “We innovate, we create new markets and we disrupt our own market,” he added. “We think these are game changers for health care.”
Shares of Medtronic sold off Monday, closing down 6.5 percent to $82.45 each after Ishrak said during an investor presentation that the company could expect sales to be at the mid-point of its full-year range of 5 percent to 5.5 percent. The company is experiencing softness in its top-selling cardiac and vascular unit, which makes defibrillators, pace-makers, heart valves, and stents.
Barclays analyst Kristen Stewart late Monday cut her price target on the stock to $104 from $113 and reiterated her overweight rating. In a note to clients, Stewart said she wasn’t surprised by the sharp stock reaction and characterized Ishrak’s comments as “cautious.”
“If it isn’t one thing, it seems to be another when it comes to Medtronic,” Stewart said. “Medtronic has had a somewhat spotty record when it comes to providing guidance and has been affected by a series of one-off events over the past year and a half.”
Ishrak said the note did not accurately reflect his comments.
Medtronic’s stock is down about 4 percent over the past 12 months and down 9 percent year to date.
Wall Street analysts have had some concerns regarding questions of the safety of paclitaxel, the drug used in commercially available drug-coated devices, which Medtronic make. Medtronic has said they are working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on that.
Additionally, Medtronic, along with the rest of the medical device industry, could face new regulations from the FDA, which seeks to change how the device manufacturers bring their products to the market.
Advanced Medical Technology Association, or AdvaMed, the industry’s lobbying group, has pushed back against the agency.
Despite weakness in the cardiac and vascular unit, Ishrak told CNBC the company is focusing on introducing technologies such as Micra, a new kind of pacemaker that is implanted directly into a patient’s heart and is less invasive than current methods.
Ishrak also touted the company’s $1.64 billion acquisition of Israel-based Mazor Robotics, a maker of guidance systems for spine and brain surgeries.
CNBC.com
