** Medical device makers continued to see healthy demand for non-urgent surgeries in 2024, especially among older Americans, leading to higher investor expectations from the companies, which resulted in mixed share moves
** Continuous glucose monitoring device makers Dexcom DXCM.O, Abbott ABT.N and Medtronic MDT.N have benefited from increasing diabetes care awareness, wider insurance coverage and preference for devices that do not need finger pricks
** ABT has grown 2.3% this year, whereas MDT and DXCM lost 3.5% and 37.3%, respectively
** Boston Scientific BSX.N, which has grown 54.6% this year, has been seeing robust demand for its heart devices, giving competition to its smaller peer Edwards Lifesciences EW.N, whose stock has dropped 2.8%
** Other device makers such as Intuitive Surgical ISRG.O and Stryker SYK.N have risen 54.4% and 20%, respectively, this year, whereas Baxter BAX.N, which faced Hurricane Helene-related disruptions at its North Carolina IV solutions facility, fell 25.2%
** RBC Capital Markets analyst Shagun Singh projects a positive momentum for the sector in 2025, attributing the anticipated growth to the pro-business policies likely to be implemented under a prospective Trump presidency
** The S&P 500 Health Care Equipment & Supplies .SPLRCHCEQ has risen 9.6% this year
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh)
((Puyaan.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))
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