St. Jude Shares Down 5%

[Stocks-to-Watch]

Investors seem to be losing some of their faith in St. Jude Medical*(STJ).

Shares of the medical device giant shrank*nearly 5% Thursday after an analyst reported that the company may lose market share.

At $37.15 a share, the stock had fallen $1.91 or 4.89%.

Medical device companies compete fiercely for market share, taking advantage of any weakness or problem with a competitor’s product. St. Jude currently has the biggest slice of the market for implantable heart devices called ICDs, which led Barrons.com to write bullishly about the stock in September.

But according to a survey conducted by Bernstein Research, most relevant doctors are concerned about insulation failures of St. Jude’s Riata defibrillation leads, which were discontinued last year. Specifically, 80% of high-volume implanting electrophysiologists have moderate to high levels of concern about the issue, according to the Bernstein survey. Another 40% of these doctors say that they’ve already reduced their use of St. Jude’s ICDs, or plan to do so.

Also, almost half of the doctors surveyed felt that St. Jude’s Durata lead, which has remained on the market, could have the same problem as Riata.



Original Article Source by Barrons.com