Medtronic's unchanged annual outlook clouds upbeat quarterly results

By Padmanabhan Ananthan and Puyaan Singh

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Medtronic MDT.N surpassed Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday, driven by strong demand for its heart devices, but its shares fell 2.6% after the company left its forecast for full-year adjusted profit unchanged.

Medtech firms have been riding a wave of increased adoption of newer technologies and a rebound in surgeries.

The forecast being maintained despite the quarterly beat implies fourth-quarter growth will slow, said Bernstein analyst Christian Moore.

Medtronic's finance chief, Thierry Pieton, told Reuters that although the company expects 6% revenue growth for the fourth quarter, extra tax costs will hurt some of the profit upside.

Medtronic expects an about $300 million hit from tariffs in fiscal 2027, up from around $185 million in fiscal 2026. It maintained its fiscal 2026 adjusted per share profit forecast at $5.62 to $5.66.

The company also faces fresh attention on its patient monitoring business after life sciences firm Danaher DHR.N struck a $9.9  billion deal to buy rival Masimo MASI.O on Tuesday.

Medtronic's acute monitoring segment houses its pulse-oximetry systems and operates a duopoly with Masimo.

Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha told Reuters that while Masimo's integration could create disruptions for Danaher, the deal is unlikely to change long-term competitive dynamics in the patient-monitoring market.

Sales in Medtronic's cardiovascular segment jumped 13.8% to $3.46 billion during the quarter, powered by strong demand for its pulsed field ablation (PFA) portfolio.

Although Medtronic's worldwide cardiac ablation heart device sales rose 80% in the quarter, including PFA, the growth missed buyside expectations, feeding a narrative that the PFA market has slowed in the last few months, said Moore.

Third-quarter revenue was $9.02 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $8.91 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Medtronic reported quarterly adjusted profit of $1.36 per share, above estimates of $1.33 per share.