By Brad Perrillio
Medtronic’s fiscal 4th-quarter sales surge nearly 60% thanks to its buyout earlier this year of Covidien, prompting the medical device company to tighten its earning forecast.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today beat the consensus forecast for its fiscal 4th-quarter sales, which rose nearly 60% on its $50 billion buyout of Covidien, and raised its Q4 earnings outlook. 
Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic reported sales of $7.30 billion for the 3 months ended April 24, up 59.9% compared with the fiscal 2014 4th quarter. Adjusted to include the contribution from Covidien, however, and sales grew just 0.6%. That includes a $482 million headwind from the strong dollar, which put constant-currency growth at 7%, the company said.
Full-year sales came in at $20.26 billion, Medtronic said, up 19% or 6% on a constant-currency basis. Medtronic said it now expects to report adjusted earnings per share “at the upper half” of its $1.08-$1.13 outlook when it reports its full results June 2 (the Covidien deal, which closed in late January, pushed back the date by about 2 weeks, the company said).
Analysts on Wall Street were looking for sales of $7.08 billion and are expecting adjusted EPS of $1.10. The news pushed MDT shares up 0.7% to $77.98 apiece in pre-market trading; the stock opened at $77.85 per share today, up 3.0%.