Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: I would like your thoughts on the following company: Medtronic. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Medtronic Inc., $33.42, symbol MDT on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $34.7 billion; www.medtronic.com), is the world’s largest maker of implantable biomedical devices. The company sells its products in over 120 countries, and gets 43% of its sales from outside the U.S. Medtronic gets 40% of its revenue by making and selling neurological, spinal, ENT (ear, nose and throat), and diabetes products. It also makes cardiac rhythm management products (31% of revenue); vascular products, mainly stents (20% of revenue); and heart valves and perfusion systems for cardiac surgery (9%). In the three months ended July 29, 2011, Medtronic’s revenue rose 5.2%, to $4.0 billion from $3.8 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 1.3%, to $0.77 from $0.76. The company spends around 9.5% of its revenue on research. This spending has led to several successful products in the past few months. For example, its new pacemaker, which is safe to use with magnetic resonance imaging systems (MRIs), is now…