Device stocks continue freefall
Medtronic’s 13 percent drop biggest since ‘84
Fear that the market for implantable defibrillators might be shrinking, makes the device stocks continue freefall.
Medtronic Inc.’s shares fell by $6.61 or 13 percent in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The decline was the biggest in 22 years. Many companies such as Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific Corp., Little Canada-based St. Jude Medical suffered a great loss in stock market.
According to Medtronic, U.S. sales of the devices declined 6 percent in the quarter ended July 28. Surgeons are implanting fewer of the $30,000 defibrillators than last year.
Sales of implantable defibrillators have slowed from a 25 percent growth rate in 2004 and 2005, partly because of the product recalls. Medtronic and St. Jude. Boston Scientific and Guidant collectively have recalled 136,200 defibrillators since June 2005.
The slowdown in defibrillator sales suggests a larger problem and a bigger market development challenge, according to Bruce Nudell, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein & Co. in New York.
