(Reuters) – Edwards Lifesciences reported fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday that beat Wall Street estimates, helped by strong demand for the company’s artificial heart valves and other devices.
The company, however, tightened its first-quarter 2024 profit to be between 62 cents and 66 cents, with its mid-point below analysts’ average estimate of 66 cents, according to LSEG data. It, however, reiterated its full-year forecast for profit and total revenue.
Shares of the California-based company fell 2.2% to $86.3 after the bell.
U.S. medical device makers are benefiting from a rebound in certain surgical procedures that were otherwise delayed by pandemic-induced curbs along with an ease in staffing shortages.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device, Edwards’ lead product, which has been facing rising competition from other med-tech peers, posted a 12.9% rise in revenue to $979.4 million.
Analysts expected sales of $974.2 million for the device, which is used to perform minimally invasive surgery on people with heart valve disease.
Edwards is redirecting resources to concentrate on its larger heart devices business amidst competition from Abbott, Boston Scientific and Medtronic in the TAVR market.
Edwards expects first-quarter revenue to be between $1.53 billion and $1.61 billion, compared to estimates of $1.56 billion.
It also plans to spin off its critical care unit, which makes balloon catheter-based vascular products, by 2024, a move to help target expanded opportunities for the company’s heart devices.
Revenue for the quarter ended Dec.31 was $ 1.53 billion, above analysts’ average estimates of $1.5 billion.
The company reported an adjusted profit of 64 cents per share, which was in line with analysts’ expectations.
(Reporting by Pratik Jain and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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