Are Medtronic Sales Suffering from Recent Computer Crash?Are Medtronic Sales Suffering from Recent Computer Crash?

Medtronic's shares slumped today in response to multiple media reports that CFO Karen Parkhill told Bloomberg the company's fiscal first quarter constant currency sales would be on the low end of guidance due to a recent computer crash.

Amanda Pedersen

Medtronic won't report its fiscal first quarter earnings results for another month, but shareholders are already bracing for disappointment. The company's shares slipped about 2.8% ($2.49) to $86.09 Monday after CFO Karen Parkhill reportedly told Bloomberg that a recent week-long computer glitch will result in quarterly sales being closer to the low end of the expected range.

The computer malfunction that happened last month has been chalked up to an internal technical issue, but whatever the cause, it left Big Blue scrambling to make up for the disruption that impacted the company's global operations. Medtronic still expects to achieve its predicted growth of 4% to 5%, according to a Seeking Alpha report on Monday.