2 days ago
Medtronic lifts FY26 outlook amid 50% growth in cardiac ablation
Medtronic has raised its fiscal year 2026 (FY26) profit outlook to 4.5%, up from a previous target of 4%, amid strong growth in its cardiovascular portfolio due to the ongoing adoption of its pulsed-field ablation (PFA) systems and lower than expect tariff impacts.
The Ireland-headquartered medtech giant's total sales reached $8.57bn in Q1 FY26, corresponding to an 8.4% rise on Q1 of FY25, which came in at $7.9bn. Medtronic now expects adjusted profits for FY26 to fall between $5.60 and $5.66 per share, up from $5.50 to $5.60 previously.
Barring speciality therapies within its neuroscience portfolio, Medtronic achieved single-digit growth across all of its product lines. Cardiovascular was the company's strongest performing segment in FY26, with worldwide profits of $3.28bn, reflecting growth of 9.3% from around $3bn compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure witnessed the highest growth within Medtronic's cardiovascular portfolio, climbing to around $1.7bn, denoting an 11.5% rise on $1.53bn in Q1 of FY25.
The uplift reflects the ongoing adoption of Medtronic's Affera mapping and ablation system featuring the Sphere-9 Catheter, and PulseSelect PFA for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AFib). The systems gained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in December 2023 and October 2024, respectively.
Medtronic CEO Jeff Martha revealed in a post-earnings conference call that in Q1 of FY26, the company reached nearly 50% growth in cardiac ablation solutions on the rollout of its PFA systems.
'This performance is reflective of our execution capabilities, and we're excited that our growth momentum in this pivotal area is only just beginning,' Martha said.
'Looking this past quarter, I've witnessed Fara [Boston Scientific's Farapulse PFA system] and our competitors in action in several ablation cases, and I can tell you firsthand that the advantages that we're bringing to the market in terms of procedure time and ease of use are truly differentiated.'
Martha added that physician feedback and utilisation levels of Medtronic's PFA equipment had been 'phenomenal', stating that the company now has 'more conviction than ever' that it has the right technology and product pipeline in place to progress towards a leadership position in cardiac ablation.
In July, Boston Scientific's Q2 2025 financials revealed even stronger performance in its cardiovascular unit, with profits of $3.34bn, representing a 26.8% increase on the unit's Q2 2024 performance at $2.63bn.
According to GlobalData analysis, months after separate approvals for Farapulse and PulseSelect, physicians in the US had already started displaying a much stronger preference for Boston's product over Medtronic's.
Johnson and Johnson (J&J) received FDA approval for its Varipulse PFA system in 2024. In its Q2 2025 financials, J&J reported a 7.3% rise in its Medtech unit in Q2 2024 to around $8.54bn.
Medtronic also lifted its FY2026 outlook due to a lower-than-expected impact from US President Donald Trump's tariffs. The company has revised the assumed impact of tariffs to $185m for the fiscal year, down from $200m to $350m previously. The move aligns with other recent tariff impacted revenue trims by companies including Zimmer Biomet and Philips.
"Medtronic lifts FY26 outlook amid 50% growth in cardiac ablation" was originally created and published by Medical Device Network, a GlobalData owned brand.
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