With earnings reporting season now in full swing, Medtech Insight highlights which companies have exceeded expectations and which ones continue to see their bottom-line sink. This edition throws the spotlight on some of the notable players in the orthopedics space.

David Dvorak has stepped down as president and CEO, and from the company's board, and CFO Daniel P. Florin will take over as interim CEO, the orthopedics giant announced July 11. The company also announced preliminary second-quarter sales and earnings that, while within the previously projected range, included disappointments for several product lines.

Among the medtech companies who have released their first-quarter 2017 sales and earnings, Johnson & Johnson and Merit Medical Systems reported progress in their long-term plans to reshape their medical device businesses, while Abbott and Zimmer Biomet received some bad news in the quarter. Smith & Nephew shows signs of a turnaround, and perennial "winner" Edwards Lifesciences provided updates on some important developments in their flagship transcatheter valve business.

The last month of 2016 saw a final flurry of medtech M&A activity as companies rushed to seal deals before the New Year arrived. Medtech Insight's M&A data tracker recorded twice as many deals in December compared to the previous month, but that was not enough to boost the year's tally, which fell behind 2015.