Medtronic Reports Sales, Earnings Up

Fridley-based Medtronic reported Tuesday morning that earnings and sales were up slightly for the quarter that ended Jan. 27.

But business was down for the company's implantable defibrillator and spine products, according to massdevice.com.

Comments during a conference call to announce third-quarter financial figures indicated that Medtronic expects to have to pay controversial new taxes on medical devices, according to MedCity News. The website quoted Chief Financial Officer Gary Ellis: 

"It’s just going to be a cost of doing business here in the U.S. and we are going to have to make the trade-offs. ... There’s probably going to be things that we can’t do as a result of that, but our assumption is that this is a cost we are going to have to cover.”