Stock Market Today, Oct. 28: Boston Scientific Slips 6% After Cutting Q4 Sales and Full-Year EPS Guidance on Cyberattack Impact

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), a global medical device maker focused on interventional cardiology and specialty devices, closed at $42.44, down 5.81%. Investors are focused on the cyberattack’s lingering disruption and the company’s lower fourth-quarter and full-year guidance. Trading volume reached 66.8M shares, coming in about 234% above its three-month average of 20.0M shares.

How the markets moved today

S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at 7,744, up 0.28%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) finished at 26,550, up 0.27%. In the medical devices sector, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) closed at $94.82, up 0.93%, and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) closed at $102.67, down 0.42%, after fresh outlook pressure kept the group in focus.

What this means for investors

Boston Scientific guided for 3% to 5% sales growth and $0.80 to $0.82 in adjusted EPS for Q3, and came up shy of both figures today, delivering a 1.5% sales increase and $0.73 in adjusted EPS. Management blamed an eight-day disruption from a cyberattack as the primary culprit, estimating it cost the company 300 basis points in sales growth and $0.07 in adjusted EPS.

Making matters worse, the company doesn’t believe an immediate turnaround is in sight, guiding for 3.75% sales growth in 2026; rather, a slow rebuilding is more likely over the next year or two. CEO Mahoney explained, “We believe that 2027 will be the trough in the cycle and we have several investments and new innovations coming over the course of the next 3 years.”

That said, BSX shares now trade at just 13 times forward earnings, so it wouldn’t take massive growth to potentially spark such a turnaround — especially considering the company may have upside incoming from its pending acquisition of Penumbra, if it can integrate the deal successfully.

I’m keeping an eye on Boston Scientific from a distance, but I’d only want to invest once I start to see signs of progress.

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