MDT Medtronic PLC

By Imani Moise 

Medtronic PLC said its earnings fell in the most recent quarter amid shrinking margins and a tough foreign currency environment.

Sales in each of the Irish company's reportable business groups rose during the quarter, but revenue took a $40 million hit from foreign exchange rates.

In all for the fiscal third quarter Medtronic reported a profit of $821 million, or 59 cents a share, down from $1.1 billion, or 77 cents, a year earlier. Excluding negative impacts from foreign currency effects earnings rose to $1.12 from $1.06 cents.

Revenue grew 5% to $7.28 billion.

Medtronic Chief Executive Omar Ishrak said he wouldn't comment on "the future of specific products and businesses" when asked on a conference call about a Bloomberg report last month that the company was preparing the sale of part or all of its medical-supplies business for up to $5 billion.

When considering possible deals, Medtronic considers "what value does that business provide" and "is it appropriately resourced given Medtronic's priorities," Mr. Ishrak said.

Medtronic said its sales of diabetes therapies in the latest quarter benefited from "strong" consumer demand for the company's new insulin pumps. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new pumps -- the MiniMed 630G and MiniMed 670G -- within weeks of each other last year. Medtronic has said it wasn't expecting the 670G approval to come so quickly and won't be ready to launch the product until this spring.

Meanwhile, the company is selling the 630G and has established a "priority access" program allowing patients who purchase the 630G to be first in line for the 670G when it hits the market. On the conference call, Hooman Hakani, head of Medtronic's diabetes business, declined to disclose the number of patients in the priority access program but said the company is "very pleased" with the uptake.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of $1.11 on $7.22 billion in revenue.

Operating margin fell to 15.7% from 19.5%.

The company also backed its 2017 guidance.

Shares were up 1.7% at $80.26 in late-morning trading and through Friday's close have risen 11% this year.

Jeanne Whalen contributed to this article.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2017 12:17 ET (17:17 GMT)

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024