Boston Scientific Posts Robust Q4 Results, Girds for Watchman Competition; No Change to Our FVE

Narrow-moat Boston Scientific posted strong fourth-quarter results that met our expectations on an overall basis, and we’re leaving our fair value estimate unchanged. While fourth-quarter revenue grew 15% organically over the prior-year period, we were pleased to see respectable growth across most product categories compared with the prepandemic fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, endoscopy and urology and pelvic health fell modestly short of our projections, but this dynamic was more than offset by stronger-than-expected performance from the medsurg segment, peripheral interventions, and especially interventional cardiology. The firm also managed to push operating leverage in a positive direction, with cost of goods sold and SG&A as a percentage of sales falling 380 and 150 basis points, respectively, year over year.