The CEOs of Zimmer Biomet, Johnson & Johnson and Stryker recently delivered 2020 financial reports and gave projections for how the industry will perform in 2021:
Stryker. Kevin Lobo, chairman and CEO:
1. ... on future prospects: "In spite of COVID-19 outbreaks that intensified through the quarter, our teams showed good resilience and delivered a solid quarter of financial results ... We saw with prior pandemic spikes, the impacts were strongest in the businesses linked to deferrable procedures, but as evidenced by our guidance for 2021, we are optimistic about our prospects for the future. The Wright Medical integration is off to a strong start and we continue to advance innovation across the company."
Zimmer Biomet. Bryan Hanson, president and CEO:
2. ... on financial performance: "The fourth quarter saw continued pressure from COVID and its impact on the recovery of elective procedures, yet our core business remained strong, as did our operational execution to close out 2020."
3. ... on plans to spin off spine business: "We continue the transformation of our business in order to drive growth and increase shareholder value, as underscored by today's announcement that we intend to spin off our Spine and Dental businesses. This transaction will position us to prioritize resources, simplify our operating models and deliver greater value through two independent publicly traded companies."
Johnson & Johnson. Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO:
4. ... on medical device market outlook: "We remain very confident in the long-term prospects around the medical device market. I think we saw very good signs of that actually over the course of 2020, where we saw the medical device market drop anywhere from 30 percent to up to 70 percent, depending on which category you're looking at, to return to mid-single-digit drops in the third quarter as we went through the rest of the year... We would expect to see continued impact certainly in the first quarter of 2021.
5. ... on hospitals' handling of the pandemic: "Overall, we're seeing hospital volumes decrease no more than about 10 percent or 15 percent in [some] areas. For example, in the U.K., a couple of other places in Europe. But overall, the resiliency and the ability of the hospital systems that continue with elective surgeries has improved quite significantly. And as I'm sure you would project, if we look at [the] second quarter, in particular, the year-on-year comparison should return."
6. ... on how the company is looking at 2021: "As we look at our team's performance and consider 2021, we're actually looking at 2019 as more of a benchmark, and to use that as an indicator more of what a baseline or normal would be."
7. ... on recovery of the knee surgery market: "We do feel that the overall knee market will recover in 2021. It will take place over the course of the year as hospitals are able to continue to get their capacity back as patients get increasingly confident. The knee market was perhaps hit more than others just because many of those procedures can be delayed perhaps versus a hip procedure. But we would expect that to return over the course of this year as we see the pandemic dealt with in a more effective way and things hopefully return to a more normal state."