Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) posted first-quarter results today that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street and reaffirmed its outlook for the rest of the year, with CEO Michael Mussallem saying “we are hopeful the worst of the pandemic is behind us.”
That may have sounded too much like a jinx for superstitious stocktraders as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are climbing once again after a brutal winter. Investors reacted to the financial results by sending EW shares down more than 5% to $110.00 in after-hours trading.
Before Edwards released its results, the stock dropped about 3% on the day, compared to a 2.5% decline in MassDevice and MDO‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies.
The Irvine, California–based cardio device company reported profits of $373.6 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, on sales of $1.34 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2022. That was a 10% increase in b…