Never a Dull Moment for Device Makers

For J&J, analysts expect the consumer health care and pharmaceuticals giant, whose business lines expand well beyond medical devices into such household brands as Band-Aids and Tylenol, to earn 86 cents a share on sales of $12.5 billion when it reports earnings later in October.

With Guidant wounded in recent months, analysts believe sales at competitors like Medtronic (MDT Quote) and St. Jude Medical (STJ Quote) probably benefited.

For example, Jason Wittes, another Leerink Swann analyst, says that for the most recent quarter, Medtronic and St. Jude gained a combined $150 million to $200 million in defibrillator sales because of Guidant's troubles.

Medtronic's quarter ends later this month. On average, analysts see earnings of 51 cents a share and sales of $2.76 billion. For the year-ago second quarter, the Minneapolis-based company earned 44 cents a share and posted sales of about $2.4 billion.

The consensus third-quarter estimates for St. Jude, of St. Paul, Minn., are a profit of 39 cents a share with a top line of $727 million. The company is due to release its results next week. Last year, St. Jude earned 25 cents a share with sales of $578.3 million.

Meanwhile, Abbott Laboratories'(ABT Quote) shareholders had to deal with disappointment this quarter on a couple of fronts.

Shares of Abbott took a 13.5% dive in the third quarter after the company lost a patent lawsuit, and a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee refused to lend its support to the prospective prostate cancer drug Xinlay. However, Abbott plans to continue trials of the drug. Plus, the FDA isn't bound by the recommendations of its committees, though it usually does follow them.

Late last month, Abbott lost a case in which it had said rival Baxter International (BAX Quote) infringed patents covering an inhaled anesthetic. Abbott, whose varied product lines include stents and catheters, intends to appeal and claim that Baxter is infringing additional patents.