STJ ST. Jude Medical, Inc.

By Lisa Beilfuss 

Device maker St. Jude Medical Inc. said fourth-quarter earnings would match expectations, though revenue would fall slightly short amid weakness in its cardiac rhythm segment.

The St. Paul, Minn., company bumped up the low end of its forecast for adjusted per-share profit, after cutting its guidance in October, now expecting $1.01 to $1.02 a share for the December quarter. Analysts have predicted $1.01 a share.

Revenue, St. Jude said, would come in at about $1.45 billion, shy of the $1.48 billion analysts have projected.

"The pressures to our business that we communicated heading into the quarter were partially offset by continued growth in atrial fibrillation and neuromodulation as well as strong sales from the recent Thoratec acquisition," Chief Executive Michael Rousseau said.

St. Jude shares fell 3% to $57.40 in midday trading in New York.

Sales in the company's cardiac rhythm segment--its biggest business and maker of pacemakers, among other products--fell a currency-adjusted 10% during the quarter, pressuring the top line, as St. Jude faces rising pressure in its MRI conditional category of products. That decline was countered by increases elsewhere: Atrial fibrillation sales rose 4%, cardiovascular revenue inched up 2% and sales of neuromodulation products grew 9%.

Thoratec product sales were $136 million during the period, above the $125 million to $130 million St. Jude had anticipated. The company in October bought heart-device maker Thoratec Corp. for about $3.4 billion, a move to beef up its presence in the market for heart failure therapies.

St. Jude will report full fourth-quarter results on Jan. 27.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2016 13:13 ET (18:13 GMT)

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