Heartport cost reductions please Wall Street
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Heartport, a minimally-invasive cardiac surgery company called 1998 a "pivotal year", as it published its year-end figures, showing that sales had dropped to $19 million from $23 million. During 1998 the company was forced to restructure and cut staff by a third, as surgeon acceptance of the company's Port-Access procedure was questioned (see Clinica No 807, p 13). Nonetheless, one prominent New York analyst is pleased with how the Redwood City, California-based company has "reined in costs" and with the launch of its new product, the EndoDirect system. While the last quarter's figures showed sales of just under $5 million, compared with the $8 million of the previous year, Glenn Reicin of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter said that the figure was some $500,000 better than the analysts' estimate. Losses from operations for the quarter were $4 million and $12 million for the year.