An interesting sidebar to the blaze of earnings we've seen from St. Jude and Boston Scientific in the past day or so has been the perspective of the respective CEOs on the fallout from the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown.
On Wednesday, St. Jude CEO Daniel Starks went a bit off-topic (imagine that!) on a conference call when an analyst asked about the effect the events in Japan will have on defibrillator sales.
Noting that the Little Canada-based company has about 650 employees in Japan, Starks said he is "absolutely amazed at what our team in Japan has gone through. . .We've got people who have been sleeping in offices. We have people with all kinds of adaptation on communications. The commuter lines have been shut down and otherwise disrupted. The rolling power outages continue to this day. . .We have at least one hospital where we have enjoyed a very high market share that is just gone as a result of the tsunami. The level of disruption to people's lives and to their families and to their emotions and to their focus and concentration is something that people just cannot imagine."
St. Jude lost about $5 million in sales in Japan during the first-quarter and Starks estimated that figure would total $25 million to $30 million for the he rest of the year.
Likewise, Boston Sci CEO Ray Elliott on Thursday morning said the events constituted a "tragedy of unprecedented scale," and he offered "sincere condolences to the people of Japan."
All of Boston Sci's employees in Japan have been accounted for, and no one was harmed in the earthquake or tsunami, he said. "They showed remarkable bravery."
Japan, of course, is the world's second-largest medical device market.
Janet Moore covers medical technology for the Star Tribune.
