Stryker reported a 9.2 percent increase in first quarter sales to $3.2 billion, with a 7.1 percent increase in orthopedic sales year-over-year.
During the first quarter conference call, CEO Kevin Lobo and COO Katherine Own discussed Stryker's robotic technology — Mako — and the transition of orthopedics into the outpatient setting.
Here are five key quotes from the call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha.
1. KL on soft Q1 orthopedic sales: "We had a pretty strong fourth quarter, a little bit softer first quarter. We've seen that movie multiple times over the past five years. So, I still see the market as very stable from a procedural standpoint and we're really much more focused on driving our growth through share gains."
2. KO on MAKO sales: "We remain on track to have the vast majority of the robots in the U.S. upgraded [with the total knee application] by Q3. Of the robots installed in Q1, over 50 percent were in competitive accounts with Stryker either had no knee market share or our share is well below our average level."
3. KO on future of robotics: "Of the roughly 4,000 hospitals in the U.S. with orthopedic practices, we estimate long-term roughly 50 percent are candidates for at least one robot, suggesting considerable runway for continued adoption. We remain focused on our strategy of selling robots, upgrading customers and collecting clinical data."
4. KL on robotic strategy: "The idea is just going in [to hospitals] and placing a bunch of robots is really not our strategy. We look for surgeons that are really champions that they're going to use the robot. They're going to have a robotics program. So we're not doing bulk sales, we're not doing C-suite sales, we're making sure that every robot is very productive. The interest level is extremely high and we do plan to take advantage of our head start, but our focus is really making sure we get value for the robots."
5. KL on Mako in ASCs: "In the ambulatory surgery centers, right now commercial pay procedures are being done. There is an interest for Mako. The only challenge there is the capital equipment. They don't necessarily always have the same amount of capital equipment budget as a hospital, but we have very, very flexible financial solutions that we offer for that setting. So we believe we're going to be well positioned to win, not just in the hospital, but also in the hospital outpatient setting as well as surgery centers as volume does migrate over time."