Boston Scientific slumps on 2Q earnings report

Shares of Boston Scientific Corp. fell Tuesday after the medical device maker reported its earnings fell 15 percent in the second quarter due to lower sales and charges from acquisitions and restructuring.

Shares of the Natick, Mass.-based company fell $1.52, or 11 percent, to end at $12.28. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $10.76 to $15.31.

U.S. sales of Boston Scientific's Taxus drug-coated stents fell nearly 30 percent to $175 million in the quarter. The decline came ahead of the launch of the company's next-generation Promus stent, which received regulatory approval earlier this month.

However, Boston Scientific also lost market share to competitor Medtronic Inc., which rolled out its Endeavour stent earlier this year. Boston Scientific will also have to defend its market share from Abbott Laboratories, which launched its Xience V stent earlier this month.

Stents are tiny tubes mesh tubes that are inserted into an artery to hold it open. The drug coatings are designed to keep scar tissue from growing over the metal and blocking blood flow.

Goldman Sachs analyst Lawrence Keusch noted that Boston Scientific has not altered its earnings guidance. Separately, Leerink Swann & Co. analyst Rick Wise stated in a note to investors that the company's total sales were slightly higher than expected, due to favorable currency exchange rates, among other factors.