St. Jude Medical Q1 Profit Beats Street - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Medical equipment maker St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ) on Wednesday reported higher first-quarter net earnings attributable to the company of $249 million, or $0.86 per share, versus last year's $223 million, or $0.78 per share. On an adjusted basis, net earnings attributable to the company totaled $278 million, or $0.96 per share in the recent quarter. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.95 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

The firm recorded $1.36 billion of net sales in the quarter, up 2 percent over the prior-year figure of $1.34 billion, whereas 21 analysts estimated revenues of $1.36 billion. The company said the unfavorable foreign currency translation comparisons reduced quarterly sales by around $25 million. On a constant-currency basis, net sales went up by 4 percent over the 2013 first quarter.

Looking ahead, the company expects adjusted net earnings in the range of $0.99 - $1.01 per share for the second quarter of 2014, and $3.95 - $4.00 for the full year 2014. For the second quarter, St. Jude Medical anticipates revenue of $1.38 billion - $1.46 billion, while 2014 revenue is likely to be in the range of $5.61 billion - $5.76 billion.

Analysts project earnings of $1.00 per share and revenue of $1.44 billion for the second quarter, and earnings of $3.98 per share and revenue of $5.69 billion for 2014.