(Reuters) – GE HealthCare Technologies Inc on Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit as a continued recovery in demand for surgical procedures boosted sales of its medical devices.
Demand for medical devices has seen a surge following a sharp decline in COVID-19 infections as customers, particularly older adults, in the United States are returning to hospitals for procedures such as hip and knee replacements, and healthcare staffing shortages ease.
Larger peer Abbott Laboratories also topped its quarterly profit estimates, aided by a recovery in sales of its medical devices such as heart valves and pacemakers.
GE HealthCare also raised the low end of its annual adjusted profit forecast range to $3.75 per share from $3.70, while maintaining its top end at $3.85.
On Oct. 16, U.S. health officials had lifted curbs on reimbursement of a non-invasive imaging test called amyloid PET used to diagnose Alzheimer’s, providing broader access to PET scanners made by companies like GE HealthCare that were only accessible for use in limited spaces like clinical trials.
In the previous quarter, GE HealthCare had said that Alzheimer’s-related testing would help drive demand for its imaging equipment at hospitals and medical centers next year.
The company has four medical device businesses under its wings – imaging equipment, ultrasound devices, patient care solutions and pharmaceutical diagnostics – with imaging being the largest.
The company reported total quarterly sales of $4.82 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, beating analysts’ estimate of $4.81 billion. $2.64 billion of the sales came from imaging devices, in line with estimates.
On an adjusted basis, GE HealthCare earned 99 cents per share, above LSEG estimates of 90 cents.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
