The company's overall sales dipped 1.3% year over year to $1.35 billion. Meanwhile, its stock is ticked up 6.41% on April 22.

Qmed Staff

St. Jude Medical Inc. trimmed its financial projections for the rest of the year as a result of currency fluctuations. The company expects adjusted earnings in the range of $3.92 to $3.97 per share--three cents per share lower than its earlier estimates.

The strong dollar has been to blame for low earning estimates for a range of companies. Recently, Johnson & Johnson partly explained that a dip in its medical device business was partly a result of the strong dollar. Will domestic sales ticked up in the most recent quarter by 5.7%, they fell 7.6% internationally as its products become more expensive abroad.

Like J&J and many other medical device firms, St. Jude Medical is doing a growing amount of business overseas as it looks to expand its business beyond its core U.S. market. St. Jude expects the strong dollar to cost the company between $385 million to $410 million this year, which is a good deal higher than its earlier projection of $325 million to $350 million.

On a brighter note, the company's stock increased 6.41% on April 22, hitting $73.55--an all-time high for the firm.

The Star Tribune explains that investors are confident in the prospects of the firm's core cardiac rhythm management business. Its CardioMEMS business is also faring well, and Barron's is upbeat about its prospects in the long term. The company's heart rhythm devices and atrial fibrillation product lines also both outperformed expectations.

The optimism makes sense. Factoring out the impact of currency fluctuations, the company's revenue would have increased by 5% in the most recent quarter.

In other news, the company recently announced its plans to buy neurostim firm Spinal Modulation Inc. for $175 million or more.