Stryker CEO Kevin Lobo appeared on CNBC's Squawk CEO Call to discuss several aspects of the business and where his company is headed in the future.
The discussion touched on:
1. The medical device excise tax, which Mr. Lobo called a job and innovation killer. "We look forward to, with the new administration, a full repeal, which has been talked about."
2. How the ACA did and didn't impact Stryker. "Even with ACA, new people insured, we didn't see a bump in our volumes. Regardless of what happens with the new administration, we aren't expecting any change."
3. Historic and future projections for sales volumes and organic growth. "Our volumes have been very consistent, very steady. Our organic growth, we've had 14 quarters in a row growing higher than 5 percent and unlike pharmaceuticals, our medical device products prices have been declining every year since 2008. Our price decrease each year is 1.5 to 2 percent."
4. Operating in several healthcare systems around the world. "We operate in all types of healthcare systems around the world. Single payer systems in France or Canada, two tier systems in the U.K., and we are able to grow our business around the world. As long as our products are innovative they add value to the healthcare system, we are going to continue to grow."
5. The potential for corporate tax reform. "Macroeconomic policies, corporate tax reform would be fabulous. We are below 20 percent, we have a low effective rate, but what we really like is having the ability to pull back our U.S. cash."
6. Recent acquisitions. "Having that flexibility for cash, we have been acquisitive. We've done over 40 deals in the last four years and spent over $4 billion in the first quarter of this year and bringing that cash back gives us a lot of flexibility to continue doing more acquisitions and do more investment. But it puts us on a level playing field with competitors that have done inversions. We've stayed in the U.S. so having that trapped cash gives me more flexibility. Today, I have to borrow every time, event to pay a dividend I have to borrow money."
7. Capital allocations. "For us, our capital allocation favors acquisitions first, then dividends and buy backs, but it gives us tremendous flexibility to do all three of those."