In a Sept. 29 letter to shareholders, Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha reflected on financial challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and outlined the company's strategy going forward.
MarketScreener published the letter Oct. 26.
Four key quotes from Mr. Martha's letter:
1. ...on strategic investments: "We remain focused on investing in our business — both organically and inorganically through tuck-in acquisitions and minority investments — to keep our industry-leading pipeline of breakthrough innovations flowing. And we have increased our cadence of acquisitions. From January to August 2020, we announced three major transactions: Digital Surgery, Medicrea and Companion Medical. With the acquisition of Digital Surgery, the leader in surgical artificial intelligence, we are positioning Medtronic to lead in data and analytics: the next big frontier in surgery. Likewise, our acquisition of Medicrea will incorporate artificial intelligence into surgical planning for spine cases."
2. ...on supporting physicians: "Since the start of the pandemic, we mobilized our global resources to support patients and physicians in this time of need. We've hosted dozens of virtual physician forums and medical education programs to help clinicians navigate the challenges of COVID-19. We deployed existing remote monitoring solutions and quickly developed new remote monitoring solutions to reduce potential exposure to COVID-19 for Medtronic employees, customers, and patients."
3. ...on accelerating innovation: "Our product pipeline is the best we've had in a long time, and to make our growth sustainable over the medium to long term, we need to put an even greater focus on scientific and technological advancement. By identifying large unmet clinical needs, freeing up financial resources, leveraging our technology platforms and applying our deep expertise in the human body, we'll create and scale therapies that have not existed before."
4. ...on creating value: "In pursuit of efficiency and better outcomes for our customers and patients, we'll apply intelligent data, AI and automation to tailor therapies in real-time, facilitating remote monitoring and care delivery that conveniently manages conditions. In addition, we'll double down on our commitment to bringing robotics into more surgical suites around the world."