Boston Scientific prices $1B debt offering

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) said last week that it expects to close a $1 billion debt offering today that’s earmarked for buying back some of its other debt.

Proceeds from the offering, of 4.0% senior notes due March 2028, are slated for the redemption of the remaining $600 million worth of the Marlborough, Mass.-based medical device company’s 2.65% notes due in October; the balance is pegged for repaying short-term debt and any expenses from the transactions, the company said.

Boston said earlier this month that an $861 million tax charge pushed it into the red during the fourth quarter and slashed full-year profits by 70%, but the company still managed to meet or beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Losses were -$615 million, or -45¢ per share, on sales of $2.41 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017, compared with Q4 profits of $124 million, or 9¢ per share on sales growth of 9.9%. Adjusted to exclude one-time items including the tax sting, earnings per share were 34¢, dead in line with The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $2.38 billion.

Full-year profits were $104 million, or 8¢ per share, on sales of $9.05 billion, for a -70.0% bottom-line slide on sales growth of 7.9% compared with 2016. Adjusted EPS came in at $1.26, again even with analysts, who forecast sales of $9.01 billion.

The $861 tax charge, taken based on the passage of tax reform legislation last year, was partially offset by that same measure as it lowered the corporate tax rate, Boston Scientific said.

Adjusted EPS are expected to be between $1.35 and $1.39 this year on sales of $9.65 billion to $9.80 billion, the company said. First-quarter adjusted EPS are pegged at 30¢ to 32¢ on sales of $2.32 billion to $2.35 billion.

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