Zimmer clearly up on its knees
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Zimmer's knee franchise posted strong growth in the fourth quarter, helping the orthopaedics market leader to turn in a strong set of results. Up 21% at $327m, knee sales grew faster than the market, which Morgan Stanley estimates to have expanded by about 19-20% in the quarter. Total group sales were up 14% at $801m, and the particularly strong contribution from the high-margin knee products fed into a 2.3 percentage point increase in gross margins to 76.4%. Net earnings rose from $37m to $200m.