Equities

Boston Scientific cuts its 2026 outlook and sees Q4 sales falling after its August cyberattack

The medical device maker lowered its full-year profit and sales forecasts and now expects fourth-quarter revenue to shrink by about 1% to 3%.

By Marcus Rodriguez · Oct 28, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Why it matters: Boston Scientific lowered its full-year adjusted profit forecast to $3.16 to $3.18 a share and now expects fourth-quarter sales to fall from a year earlier.

For information only, not investment advice. Prices delayed.

Tickers: BSX

Boston Scientific ($BSX) lowered its 2026 forecast on Wednesday and said it expects fourth-quarter sales to decline about 1% to 3% from a year earlier, according to its third-quarter results. The company now sees full-year adjusted earnings of $3.16 to $3.18 a share, down from the $3.28 to $3.32 it guided to in July, and full-year reported sales growth of about 4.25%, versus 5.5% to 6.5% before.

The backdrop is a September filing. On Aug. 25, the company identified a cybersecurity incident that caused a network outage and hit its ability to manufacture and to process and ship customer orders, it said in an 8-K filed with the SEC. In that filing it warned it was unlikely to meet its July guidance, and said it expected to recover some of the lost revenue, though the full impact wasn't yet known.

Third-quarter sales came in at $5.138 billion, up 1.5%, short of the 3% to 5% growth the company had guided to in July. Adjusted earnings were 73 cents a share, against a July guide of $0.80 to $0.82. Against analysts' forecasts, though, the quarter beat: Reuters reported that analysts had expected $5.05 billion in sales, according to LSEG data, and 72 cents a share.

"This has been a challenging year for Boston Scientific and I'm proud of how our global teams have responded, particularly to the cybersecurity incident, working with urgency and resilience to restore operations and continue supporting customers and patients," chairman and Chief Executive Mike Mahoney said in the release.

The company expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.77 to $0.79 a share. Those are the company's own estimates, and adjusted earnings exclude certain charges.

Tags: earnings · guidance · healthcare-pharma