Earnings Preview: Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific (BSX) is scheduled to report Q4 earnings with a conference call scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, Tuesday, February 5th.

Guidance

Analysts are expecting a profit of 8c on revenue of $2.13B. The consensus range for EPS is (12c) to 12c, with a revenue range of $2.09B to $2.17B, according to First Call. EPS expectations for this quarter are lower than its year over year results of 10c. Last month, company CEO Paul LaViolette said his 2008 goal is to have 3% to 5% revenue and 18% to 20% EPS growth. Also, that the biggest boost to the bottom line will come from cost cutting.

Analyst Views

Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, and set a price target of $15 per share, saying that all downside threats to the stock are priced in, but none of the "dramatic" cost cutting initiatives are factored. Also, that sales of stents and implantable heart devices may be better than expected. The stock was upgraded by Banc of America to Neutral from Buy, saying restructuring and new products will lead to larger profits in 2009 forward.

Comments

[Pj568]

Will BSX announce an impairment charge? If they were to do so it might buy them some credibility as they been in denial since the Guidant purchase. 10B pre tax might be a reasonable number but I doubt we'll see anything. With BSX selling at around 1.2 of book it's probably already priced into the stock value but it would help clean up their balance sheet.

[Pj568]

Wasted post. Earnings are out, not real earnings, only adjusted earnings. No Guidant impairment, too bad as I think they lost a good opportunity to help get the past behind them.