Edwards Lifesciences increased its full-year financial forecast as sales of its transcatheter aortic replacement valves grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter.
Edwards CEO Bernard Zovighian said on a Thursday earnings call that the upturn in first-quarter TAVR sales reflects a move away from watchful waiting in clinical practice for patients with severe heart valve disease.
“There has been a shift toward proactive disease management with an increased focus on evaluation and intentional referral of patients with severe aortic stenosis earlier in the disease pathway,” Zovighian told analysts and investors.
He said heart patients are being referred for valve replacement sooner due to the company’s study data that points to better outcomes with earlier treatment and the long-term durability of its Sapien valves. It was Edwards’ third consecutive quarter of double-digit TAVR sales growth.
The company increased its overall 2026 sales growth guidance to a range of 9% to 11%, up from the prior forecast of 8% to 10%. For TAVR, sales are forecast to rise 7% to 9% year over year, an increase from the 6% to 8% predicted earlier.
The rosier outlook comes amid a choppy start to the year for big medtech companies, with both Abbott and Boston Scientific cutting 2026 earnings forecasts.
Intuitive Surgical’s procedure growth was a bright spot in the quarter, prompting the robot maker to boost full-year expectations.
Citi Research analyst Joanne Wuensch said Edwards reported healthy TAVR growth both in the U.S. and overseas.
“Without getting overly excited, it is good to write that another MedTech stock has delivered,” Wuensch wrote to clients Thursday.
On the earnings call, analysts pressed Edwards executives on whether the company was gaining market share in TAVR from competitor Medtronic, whose Evolut study data, reported in February, showed higher reintervention rates at six and seven years for patients implanted with Medtronic’s TAVR valves versus those who received surgical treatment.
While Edwards executives said it was too soon to assess whether the Evolut data was contributing to a market share shift, analysts said it was likely supporting Edwards’ sales growth.
“While Medtronic hasn’t yet reported, these results should confirm that Edwards has been winning share and probably hasn’t even yet started to benefit from Evolut’s negative seven-year low-risk data readout earlier this year,” J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus wrote Friday.
Truist Securities analyst Richard Newitter said Medtronic’s data isn’t an “apples-to-apples” comparison with Edwards’ study outcomes, but “we think the share capture leaves room for further upside moving through the year.”
