Medtronic Inc., the world’s largest maker of medical devices, saw its quarterly earnings slip 1 percent.
Sales to markets like Asia and Latin America are growing by double digits, but not enough to offset deteriorating demand in the United States, where tighter hospital budgets and safety concerns have hurt sales of the company’s heart and spinal devices.
The Minneapolis company said net income fell to $821 million, or 77 cents per share.
International business accounted for 46 percent of its revenue, and sales in China and the Middle East grew 30 percent as reported, or 25 percent on a constant currency basis.
The company’s new chief executive, Omar Ishrak, has stressed the importance of expanding Medtronic’s business internationally.
Improved sales internationally and currency rates could not offset weakening demand for the company’s two biggest products: heart defibrillators and spinal implants. Sales for implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, fell 8 percent on a constant currency basis to $697 million, as procedure volumes fell in the United States. ICDs treat rapid heartbeats.
Medtronic is counting on its next-generation ICD, Protecta, to prop up weakening sales. The device is designed to avoid painful, unnecessary shocks to patients.
Sales from the spinal business fell to $825 million from $829 million. International sales in that segment grew 7 percent.
