Smith & Nephew PLC (LSE:SN) shares were the worst faller on the FTSE 100 on Thursday morning, down 12% after reporting lower revenues than expected
Third-quarter revenue growth came in at 5.0%, below consensus expectations of 6.1%, with orthopaedics slower than forecast due to a weaker performance in US knee replacement surgeries, with sport medicine also softer than expected.
UBS analysts said: "while guidance was reiterated, we think this will disappoint versus expectations".
Panmure Liberum analysts said US knee revenues fell 2.3%, "which suggests that S&N has lost meaningful market share over Q3", driven by steps to rationalise the portfolio.
His view is that "the shares have been strong over the last few months and with nothing materially new in today’s statement we would expect the shares to be a touch weaker given the revenue miss."
Both sets of analysts said what will be more important is what the company says in December’s capital markets day, where it will set out its longer-term strategy.