Devices & Diagnostics

St. Jude Medical has its own October surprise with five back-to-back downgrades

As noted before, October has not been kind to St. Jude Medical. (NYSE:STJ). And now the Minnesota medical device maker has been hit with five  back-to-back downgrades from equity analysts, including one issued by Morgan Stanley Analyst David Lewis on Monday. In his note, Lewis said that while the risks the company with its high […]

By Arundhati Parmar on October 31, 2012

As noted before, October has not been kind to St. Jude Medical. (NYSE:STJ).

And now the Minnesota medical device maker has been hit with five  back-to-back downgrades from equity analysts, including one issued by Morgan Stanley Analyst David Lewis on Monday.

In his note, Lewis said that while the risks the company with its high voltage lead Durata appear to have faded, the company’s weak future product pipeline along with a slow recovery of the cardiac rhythm management market is prompting the downgrading to equal weight from overweight.

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The weak product pipeline especially centers around St. Jude Medical’s renal denervation product that is being developed to treat resistant hypertension.

“Fast-follower pipeline programs in transcatheter valves and renal denervation (RDN) may be farther behind than we thought,” Lewis acknowledged. “We see a widening gap between management’s persistently bullish tone and muted 2013 pipeline expectations.”