Medtronic reported $7.5 billion in 2019 third quarter revenue, a 2.4 percent increase year over year. However, the company's spine revenue was flat at $655 million.
Medtronic executives including Chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak and CFO Karen Parkhill discussed the company's vision for the future of spine during the third quarter earnings call, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha.
Omar Ishrak on spine growth: "We believe our strong capital equipment sales supporting our brain therapies growth are a leading indicator for future growth in our spine business as customers choose to link future spine implant purchases with the capital equipment that they're acquiring. As we execute more of these contracts, we would expect our core spine implant sales to grow over the coming quarters."
OI on robotics growth: "Regarding our robotic-assisted surgery platform, we're hitting key milestones that are on track for an unexpected launch in FY 2020. We've had several resubmission meetings with regulatory bodies around the world including the U.S. FDA. More than 100 surgeons have used the system and provided very positive feedback."
OI on flat spine sales: "In our spine division, while results were flat, when combined with sales of our capital equipment used in spine surgery, which is the way many of our competitors report their results, our spine division grew 4.6 percent including 5.4 percent growth in U.S. core spine."
Karen Parkhill on company margin projections: "We continue to forecast 50 basis points of four-year underlying operating margin expansion as we deliver to more than absorb the impact from product mix headwinds, China tariffs and the dilution from the Mazor acquisition."