Medtronic's revenue of $7.1bn for the second fiscal quarter of 2018 was down 4% year-over-year on an as-reported basis, but up 4% on a comparable constant-currency basis. –It would have been even greater if not for the hurricane that hindered manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico, the company reported Nov 21.

Device and diagnostics fundraising slumped in Q2, but there was a substantial uptick in M&A activity. Device financings totaled just slightly over half of the previous quarter, while acquisitions grew almost six-fold, thanks primarily to Becton Dickinson's $23.5 billion play for CR Bard. Financing in diagnostics slid to $1.03 billion, less than half of Q1, whereas the $1.7 billion in M&As (most of that from PerkinElmer's $1.3 billion buy of EuroImmun) was more than double Q1's aggregate.

Most of the large, diversified medtech companies have now reported their sales and earnings for the second quarter and first half of 2017. All of the companies in this category reported revenue growth and promised investment in new technologies across all their businesses, but a Baxter and Cardinal Health stand out as having especially successful quarters. Abbott is still trying to overcome major challenges, and J&J is turning around its medical device businesses under new leadership.