Following the recent release of Q3 financial information from Medtronic;

Dominic Tong, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Medtronic’s recently disclosed Q3 financial information shows that there is still some way to go before revenues return to pre-pandemic levels, despite strong recovery. Specifically, Medtronic reported that its neuromodulation segment was down 3.1% in Q3, year-over-year. Neuromodulation procedures are almost entirely elective, so most of them were delayed due to lockdown protocols.

“The lagging recovery may suggest that, while elective procedures have resumed, hospitals do not currently have the capacity to address the accumulated backlog of procedures. With COVID-19 cases rising in many countries, hospitals may not be able to free up capacity for delayed elective procedures until well into 2021. As a result, revenue may continue to be impacted until a vaccine is distributed.

“However, while it is a long road, this is still a significant improvement over its Q2 performance, where the company saw a 21% decrease in revenue. This recovery amid a still ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus bodes well for rapid recovery in Q4 and into 2021.”