St. Jude Medical Up Slightly as It Meets Estimates
St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) saw a small boost in share prices after reporting in-line second quarter earnings Thursday.
The medical device company, which is set to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories (ABT) - Get Report by the end of 2016, was trading at $81.20 before the market opened Wednesday, up 1.23% from Tuesday's close.
In line with analyst estimates, St. Jude's reported flat earnings for the second quarter of $1.06 earnings per share, up from $1.03 for the second quarter of 2015, despite an 11% increase in sales, to $1.56 billion from $1.41 billion.
Much of this sales boost came from the company's heart failure division, which saw worldwide sales advance by 48% from the year earlier period.
During the earnings call, St. Jude's CEO Mike Rousseau called the company's heart failure division the "broadest and most innovative in the world." The division boasts devices that monitor patients and those that provide advanced-stage therapies.
As for the Abbott's acquisition of the company, the company provided little in the way of updates.
Under the terms of the deal, which was announced on April 28, Abbott will pay $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 of an Abbott share for each share of St. Jude.
According to Rousseau, St. Jude's investors and employees are pleased with the deal.
"Employees are extremely excited for our combined organization to be competitive in the market," he said during the earnings call. "I thought it would be worth mentioning that since the announcement I have heard from several stakeholders share our enthusiasm for this transaction."
As the deal nears its close, which is expected for the end of 2016, Rousseau said the two companies have established an integration team to make the transition go more smoothly.