Irvine heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said Tuesday that its third-quarter profit rose 13% from a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations.
Edwards posted a $32.9 million profit in the quarter, up from $29.1 million a year earlier.
Wall Street expected Edwards to make $31.5 million in the third quarter.
Sales came in at $303.6 million, up 16% from a year earlier. Analysts expected Edwards to have $302.7 million in quarterly sales.
Heart valve sales were up 21% to $148.4 million, including $13 million in European sales from Edwards’ less-invasive Sapien heart valve.
Expectations for Sapien, which is in a large U.S. clinical trial, have helped push Edwards’ shares up about 20% this year on a recent market value of $790 million.
Edwards also raised its 2008 profit outlook.
Edwards expects full-year profits of $141.7 million to $145.1 million, up from a previous range of $137.1 million to $141.5 million.
Edwards said it expects its full-year sales to come in at the low end of a previous forecast of $1.24 billion to $1.28 billion.
Wall Street expects Edwards to make $143.4 million on sales of $1.26 billion.