Boston Scientific Q3 Sales Rise 1.5% as Cyberattack Costs $150M, Shares Fall

Boston Scientific’s third quarter of 2026 showed the cost of the cyberattack that shut down its systems in late August. The Marlborough-based medical device maker reported on Wednesday, Oct. 28, that sales rose just 1.5% from a year earlier to $5.138 billion, and it now expects fourth-quarter sales to shrink. In its Boston Scientific Q3 2026 earnings call, management also warned that 2027 is likely to be the low point of a slowdown, and the stock fell about 8% in early trading.

The company had already said the Aug. 25 incident would push results below its July guidance. Our preview of the Boston Scientific cyberattack and Q3 report laid out what investors were watching. Wednesday’s numbers put a price on it.

Boston Scientific Q3 2026 earnings by the numbers

GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders was $582 million, or $0.40 a share, down from $755 million, or $0.51 a share, in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings, which exclude amortization, restructuring, litigation and other items, were $0.73 a share, compared with $0.75 a year ago. The company’s own guidance for the quarter had been $0.80 to $0.82, and analysts polled by Investing.com expected $0.75. Revenue came in slightly above the $5.12 billion consensus.

Organic sales growth of 1.5% compared with original guidance of 3% to 5%. The company’s MedSurg segment grew 0.6% to $1.733 billion, and Cardiovascular grew 1.9% to $3.406 billion. Neuromodulation was the standout, rising 13.1% to $331 million, while urology fell 3.2% to $661 million and endoscopy slipped 0.8% to $741 million. U.S. sales rose 0.5% to $3.309 billion; Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew 4.4% on a reported basis, and Latin America and Canada grew 16%.

Free cash flow for the quarter was $867 million. The company ended September with $609 million in cash and a gross debt leverage ratio of 1.9 times, according to the earnings call.

What the cyberattack cost

Chief Financial Officer Jon Monson said the incident cut about 300 basis points from third-quarter growth, roughly $150 million in sales, and about $0.07 from adjusted earnings per share. That included lost sales during what he described as an eight-business-day disruption to the global network, when the company could not manufacture or ship product, plus extra costs such as expedited shipping and outside experts. Chairman and CEO Mike Mahoney said all operations were back up as of Sept. 8.

Adjusted gross margin fell 300 basis points to 68.0%, which Monson attributed mainly to unfavorable manufacturing absorption during the outage. The effect is not over: the company expects a further 200 to 300 basis point hit in the fourth quarter as customers who restocked heavily at the end of September work down that inventory, worth about $0.04 to $0.05 a share.

Lower guidance and a weak 2027 outlook

Boston Scientific now expects fourth-quarter sales to decline 1% to 3% from a year earlier, with adjusted earnings of $0.77 to $0.79 a share. For the full year 2026, it projects reported sales growth of about 4.25%, organic growth of about 3.75% and adjusted earnings of $3.16 to $3.18 a share.

Beyond the cyberattack, management pointed to pressure in two franchises that drove its growth from 2023 to 2025. WATCHMAN, its left atrial appendage closure device, saw sales fall 6% in the quarter, and electrophysiology sales fell 5% as competitors gained share in pulsed field ablation. Mahoney also cited tougher pricing in China. The company said it will be challenged to grow sales and adjusted earnings in 2027, excluding its pending acquisition of Penumbra, which is now expected to close in early 2027. Management said it expects a return to growth in 2028 as new products such as FARAWAVE Ultra, now expected in early 2028, reach the market.

Monson said a companywide restructuring program is expected to save more than $500 million over three years, with more than half of that achieved by the end of 2027.

Why it matters for Massachusetts

Boston Scientific is one of the largest publicly traded companies headquartered in Massachusetts, and its slowdown adds to a difficult stretch for the region’s life sciences employers, which have seen layoffs and rising lab vacancy around Kendall Square. The company did not announce job cuts in Massachusetts on Wednesday, and its restructuring comments did not break out figures by location. For more coverage of local companies, see the Boston business and economy section of our Boston News hub.

Market reaction

Shares fell 7.9% in premarket trading to $41.50, down from a previous close of $45.06, according to Investing.com, leaving the stock just above the low end of its 52-week range of $41.39 to $105.65. “This has been a challenging year for Boston Scientific,” Mahoney said in the earnings release. “As we move forward, I remain confident in our long-term strategy.” On the call, Monson acknowledged that the company needs to “rebuild confidence in our forecasts” and said it has added more scenario analysis and third-party data to its forecasting process.

Sources

• Boston Scientific: Boston Scientific announces results for third quarter 2026 (Oct. 28, 2026)
• Investing.com: Earnings call transcript, Boston Scientific Q3 2026 (Oct. 28, 2026)
• Investing.com: Boston Scientific earnings missed by $0.02, revenue topped estimates (Oct. 28, 2026)
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Boston Scientific Form 8-K on the August 2026 cybersecurity incident