Boston Scientific Matches Profit Expectations, But Provides Downbeat Outlook

Medical products and technology company Boston Scientific Corp. reported on Tuesday a first-quarter loss of $1 million, or breakeven on a per-share basis, compared with a profit of $133 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings came in at 21 cents a share, matching the FactSet consensus. Sales slipped to $1.768 billion from $1.774 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of $1.779 billion. Negative currency effects reduced overall international sales by 14 percentage points. For the current quarter, the company expects adjusted EPS of 20 cents to 22 cents and revenue of $1.8 billion to $1.85 billion, compared with the FactSet consensus of 22 cents and $1.856 billion, respectively. The stock, which slipped 0.6% in premarket trade on light volume, has surged 36% year to date, outperforming the S&P 500's 2.4% gain.