Amid leadership changes in the past quarter, NuVasive expects to report 5 percent organic revenue growth for 2018.
"In the fourth quarter and full year 2018, we continued to grow above market, driven by new product introductions and strong performances in key global geographies," said J. Christopher Barry, who became CEO in November. "We are encouraged by our mid-single digit growth in a stable U.S. spine market, while experiencing some temporal surgeon case volume disruptions that impacted the fourth quarter results, along with a delay in timing of capital equipment orders."
Here are five things to know about NuVasive in 2018 ahead of the official financial report:
1. The company launched more than a dozen new technologies in addition to developing strategic partnerships last year.
2. NuVasive projected approximately $1.1 billion in revenue for the full year, including $288 million in the fourth quarter. Excluding the impact of its SafePassage acquisition as well as foreign currency, the company's organic revenue growth was around 5 percent.
3. In 2019, the company aims to focus on "disruptive technology" in its core hardware portfolio, navigation, imaging and robotics.
4. Operational excellence and strategic investment in profitable growth areas are also goals for the next year. The company currently has a 2,400-person workforce and a presence in more than 40 countries.
5. Last week, Mr. Barry made changes to the leadership structure of the organization to help foster cross-functional collaboration, consolidate complementary functions and increase accountability. A team of seven leaders will report to Mr. Barry and four others are global commercial regional leaders. The company eliminated the executive vice president of people and culture as well as the executive vice president of global process transformation.