St. Jude Medical 4Q Profit Falls 2% on Soft Pacemaker Sales

St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) reported a decline in fourth-quarter sales and earnings on Wednesday but was upbeat on the current fiscal year.

The St. Paul, Minn.-based medical device maker posted in-line revenue for the three months ended Dec. 29 of $1.37 billion, down 2% from $1.41 billion a year ago, hurt in part by unfavorable foreign exchange rates.

Negatively impacting sales was an 11% decline in pacemaker sales and softer demand for implantable defibrillators. Revenue for cardiovascular products was flat year-over-year.

Shares of St. Jude slumped more than 1% to $39.21 in morning trade.

St. Jude said net income declined by $120 million, or 39 cents, during the period, compared with a year-earlier $125 million, or 39 cents.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 92 cents, topping average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll by two pennies.

Partially offsetting some of the weakness was a 10% increase in atrial fibrillation sales.

“We are particularly pleased with the strong growth of our atrial fibrillation business, our ability to maintain share in the global ICD market and exceeding prior earnings per share guidance for the quarter,” said St. Jude CEO Daniel Starks.

The company, he said, is confident in its ability to delivery strong EPS growth in fiscal 2013 without sacrificing its investments in expanding its pipeline.

In the current quarter, the health-care company foresees earnings in the range of 91 cents to 93 cents a share, above the consensus view of 89 cents.

It anticipates full-year earnings between $3.68 and $3.73, above the Street’s view of $3.62.