Ms. Stewart: I cover the more mid- and large-cap medical supply names. Broken down by industry segment, it would include medical supplies or hospital supplies, cardiovascular and orthopedic devices.
TWST: What are some of the companies that you cover?
Ms. Stewart: I cover Baxter (BAX), Becton, Dickinson (BDX), C. R. Bard (BCR),
Covidien (COV), CareFusion (CFN), which is the spinoff from Cardinal Health
(CAH), Medtronic (MDT), Boston Scientific (BSX), St. Jude (STJ), Edwards
Lifesciences (EW), Stryker (SYK), Zimmer (ZMH) and Nanosphere (NSPH), which is a
small molecular diagnostic company.
TWST: What are some of the key trends you are seeing in the industry right now
at both the macro and micro levels?
Ms. Stewart: I'm still seeing some residual impact from the hospital capital
equipment cycle in terms of hospitals having less access to capital and their
endowment funds coming under some pressure given the broader equity markets, and
seeing lower admission trends because of what's going on in the economy. So
hospitals have been cutting back on hospital equipment purchases, and we're also
still seeing some depressed demand for certain elective procedures and some
fluctuation of inventory levels by hospitals as well.
Tickers included in this excerpt: BAX, BCR, BDX, BSX, CAH, CFN, COV, EW, MDT, NSPH, STJ, SYK, ZMH
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