其股价上涨了 50%，波士顿科学公司是如何恢复活力的？
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 18 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）目前，马尔伯勒的波士顿科学公司故事仍然集中在持续增长上：预计今年的收入将增长 16.5%，达到 160 亿美元。随着两种治疗心房颤动的设备需求激增，波士顿科学的股价一路飙升——仅今年一年就上涨了 50% 以上。《波士顿环球报》记者Jon Chesto对此作了下述报道。
在完成最新一笔数十亿美元交易的第二天，波士顿科学公司派出餐车向加州和明尼苏达州的 Silk Road Medical 员工分发炸鸡三明治和墨西哥卷饼，然后举行了一次市政厅式会议欢迎他们加入。
那个九月的日子对于生产中风预防设备的 Silk Road 团队来说是一个重要的日子。但这样的交易对波士顿科学公司来说是家常便饭，马尔伯勒公司已经将这一过程精确到科学的程度。在首席执行官迈克·马奥尼的 12 年任期内，波士顿科学公司完成了 40 多项收购，帮助这家医疗设备制造商成为该州最有价值的公司之一。
考虑到 2006 年波士顿科学公司孤注一掷以 270 亿美元收购心脏起搏器公司 Guidant 所造成的损失，这可能令人惊讶，这笔交易在与规模更大的强生公司的竞购战中取得了胜利。那次臭名昭著的合并使波士顿科学公司背负了数十亿美元的债务和与 Guidant 设备问题相关的负债。
波士顿科学公司曾经强大的并购机器基本上陷入停顿，股价暴跌，导致裁员，并使许多其他工作岗位面临风险。2012 年 11 月，马奥尼被波士顿科学董事会从强生公司招募，成为首席执行官时，该公司股价为每股 5 美元。该公司的市值仅为 80 亿美元左右——不到六年前收购 Guidant 时支付的价格的三分之一。如今，波士顿科学的股价约为每股 90 美元，其股票市值已达到 1300 亿美元。马萨诸塞州只有两家上市公司——赛默飞世尔科技和 TJX——市值更高。
当然，竞争对手正在努力追赶。波士顿科学面临着来自强生、美敦力和雅培实验室的激烈竞争，特别是在电生理学（治疗心律失常）和介入心脏病学领域。然而，对于目前拥有约 50,000 名员工的波士顿科学来说，最大的挑战可能来自于它自己的交易：随着公司规模的扩大，像收购丝绸之路这样较为温和的交易往往不会给收入和收益带来按比例的提升，因为公司规模在不断扩大。
不过，目前，马尔伯勒的故事仍然集中在持续增长上：预计今年的收入将增长 16.5%，达到 160 亿美元。随着两种治疗心房颤动的设备需求激增，波士顿科学的股价一路飙升——仅今年一年就上涨了 50% 以上。
“我在这里工作了 28 年，”负责公司亚洲业务以及泌尿科、内窥镜和神经调节业务的执行副总裁 Arthur Butcher 说道。“现在正是我们加入波士顿科学的最佳时机，我们拥有如此强劲的势头。”
在 Guidant 竞购战之前的十多年里，波士顿科学一直是一个积极的交易者。那次收购的起搏器和除颤器使波士顿科学成为心血管领域最大的参与者之一。但胜利的代价是巨大的：沉重的债务和因设备缺陷而引发的诉讼，更不用说与强生公司旷日持久的法律纠纷了。
“他们与 Guidant 的合作有点过火了，不仅是在价格方面，而且他们最终得到了一柜子黑历史，”晨星分析师 Debbie Wang 说道。 “一旦他们能够稳定局面并降低债务，他们就处于有利地位，能够再次进行收购。”
波士顿科学公司在 21 世纪的大部分时间里经历了另一场磨难，原因是用于女性骨盆修复的手术网片产品。该公司与其他几家公司一起解决了数千名受伤患者提起的诉讼。最终，在 2021 年，该公司与多位州检察长达成了 1.89 亿美元的和解协议，以更改其失禁产品的标签，部分是为了澄清其潜在风险。
布彻说，在马奥尼上任之前，公司专注于心脏病学领域的主导地位。但当马奥尼担任总裁一年后成为首席执行官时，他明确表示希望公司所有八个部门的增长速度都快于各自的市场，他愿意为它们全部投资。波士顿科学公司制定了一套系统：将 10% 的收入用于研发，包括推进已经获得的技术，并将大部分利润用于新交易。“公司赚到的每一美元，几乎都会重新投资到内部研发和技术收购中，”布彻说。“这就是差异化因素。”
关键在于如何选择这些收购目标。马奥尼恳请他的团队想办法降低医院客户的成本，并与医生合作，帮助他们解决问题。在心房颤动 (AFib) 的情况下，医生传统上会通过一种称为消融的过程施加极热或极冷来治疗心律不齐。由此产生的疤痕会阻断错误的心脏信号，恢复心脏的正常节奏。但医生们希望采用一种危害更小、副作用更少的方法。因此，他们采用了该公司的 Farapulse 设备，该设备使用电磁波。
波士顿科学公司从自己的风险投资组合中挑选了 Farapulse。该公司通过其风险投资部门对年轻公司进行小额投资——目前它有大约 40 项投资——通过购买它们的少数股权。投资银行 Stifel 的分析师 Rick Wise 表示，这使得高管们能够密切关注初创公司，了解他们的技术，并经常在他们的董事会中获得一席之地，而不会冒太多风险。（波士顿科学公司持有 Farapulse 的少数股权，直到 2021 年，在试验结果令人鼓舞的情况下，它收购了其余股权。）
Robert W. Baird & Co. 投资银行的高级研究分析师 David Rescott 表示，该公司的交易撮合者近年来将目光投向了高增长市场。2012 年之前，波士顿科学公司近一半的业务年增长率不到 4%。他说，现在，公司近一半的销售额增长超过 7%。
这意味着公司将不再局限于药物涂层支架和起搏器，在马奥尼担任首席执行官之前，这两个产品线约占公司收入的一半。马奥尼在接受采访时表示，这些产品线仍然很重要，而且在不断增长，但波士顿科学公司正在内窥镜检查、泌尿科和介入性心脏病治疗等领域寻找增长更快的业务。现在的收购策略侧重于进行规模较小的收购，以扩大现有的业务线，而不是收购像 Guidant 这样的大公司。
“现在回想起来，其他人都在复制这一策略，”美国银行分析师特拉维斯·斯蒂德说。“他们在很多事情上做了很多小赌注，其中很多都不一定成功，但有些成功了，而且它们已经成为巨大的增长动力。”
分析师还指出，马奥尼推动了文化和思维方式的转变。
马奥尼表示，变革是通过招募新领导人和精简官僚机构来加快决策速度并简化管理人员的薪酬激励来实现的。
“这是一个不断改进的过程，公司实力不断增强，”马奥尼说。
波士顿科学公司能继续保持这种势头吗？跟踪该公司的分析师仍然充满希望。但他们也表示，竞争对手不会轻易将收购目标或市场让给马萨诸塞州的竞争对手。波士顿科学公司的高管需要谨慎，不要支付过高的价格，因为他们现在可以再次进行大交易了。投资者的期望很高。
马奥尼仍然充满信心。他说，员工的动力不只是季度收益数字。波士顿科学公司定期在世界各地的公司设施接待患者，告诉他们其设备如何使他们的生活受益。
“我们将这些非常有力的患者故事直接带给我们的员工，[并且]他们看到我们每天所做的最终帮助了患者，”马奥尼说。“大多数员工并不关心波士顿科学公司的股价。他们希望为自己的工作感到自豪。”
题图：马尔伯勒波士顿科学园区的入口。这家医疗设备制造商近年来完成了 40 多次收购，帮助其成为该州最有价值的公司之一。Lane Turner/Globe 员工
附原英文报道：
Its stock is up 50 percent. Billion-dollar deals for breakfast. How did Boston Scientific get its mojo back?
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated November 12, 2024
The entrance to the Boston Scientific campus in Marlborough. The medical device maker has completed more than 40 acquisitions in recent years, helping turn it into one of the state’s most valuable companies.Lane Turner/Globe Staff
The day after completing its latest billion-dollar deal, Boston Scientific dispatched food trucks to hand out fried chicken sandwiches and burritos to Silk Road Medical employees in California and Minnesota, before holding a town hall-style meeting to welcome them into the fold.
That September day was a big one for the teams at Silk Road, which makes stroke-prevention devices. But deals like this are a regular occurrence for Boston Scientific, and the Marlborough company has the process down to, well, a science. During chief executive Mike Mahoney’s 12-year tenure, Boston Scientific has completed more than 40 acquisitions, helping turn the medical device maker into one of the state’s most valuable companies.
This might be surprising considering the damage caused by its bet-the-farm, $27 billion deal in 2006 for pacemaker company Guidant, which sealed a victory in its bidding war against the larger Johnson & Johnson. That infamous merger saddled Boston Scientific with billions in debt and liabilities related to problems with Guidant’s devices.
Boston Scientific’s once-powerful mergers and acquisitions machine essentially ground to a halt, tanking the stock, prompting layoffs, and putting many other jobs at risk. By the time Mahoney, who was recruited by the Boston Scientific board from J&J, became chief executive in November 2012, the stock was at $5. The company was only worth about $8 billion — less than one-third of what it paid for Guidant six years earlier. Flash forward to today: Boston Scientific shares trade at around $90, and the stock market value has hit $130 billion. Only two public companies in Massachusetts — Thermo Fisher Scientific and TJX — are worth more.
Rivals, of course, are trying to catch up. Boston Scientific faces intense competition from J&J, Medtronic, and Abbott Laboratories, particularly in the fields of electrophysiology (treating heart rhythm disorders) and interventional cardiology. However, perhaps the biggest challenge for Boston Scientific, which now employs about 50,000 people, could come from its own deal-making: As it gets bigger, more modest deals like the Silk Road acquisition often provide less of a boost proportionately to revenue and earnings because of the company’s increasing size.
For now, though, the story out of Marlborough remains focused on relentless growth: Revenue is expected to rise this year by 16.5 percent, clearing $16 billion. And with surging demand for two of its devices to treat atrial fibrillation, Boston Scientific’s stock has been on fire — posting a 50-plus percent increase this year alone.
“I’ve been here for 28 years,” said Arthur Butcher, an executive vice president who oversees the company’s Asian operations and its urology, endoscopy, and neuromodulation businesses. “There’s never been a better time to be here than now, with the momentum that we have.”
For over a decade before the Guidant bidding war, Boston Scientific had been an aggressive deal-maker. The pacemakers and defibrillators from that acquisition made Boston Scientific one of the biggest players in the cardiovascular sector. But victory came at a big cost: heavy debt and lawsuits over defective devices, not to mention a protracted legal battle with J&J.
“They extended themselves a little too far with Guidant, not only in terms of the price tag, but they ended up getting a closet full of skeletons,” said Debbie Wang, a Morningstar analyst. “Once they were able to stabilize things and bring that debt down, that put them in a good position to be able to make acquisitions again.”
Boston Scientific endured another ordeal for much of the 2000s, over surgical mesh products used for pelvic repair in women. The company, along with several others, resolved lawsuits filed by thousands of injured patients. Eventually, in 2021, it reached a $189 million settlement with multiple state attorneys general to change the labeling on its incontinence products, in part to clarify their potential risks.
Before Mahoney’s arrival, the company focused on dominating cardiology, Butcher said. But when Mahoney became chief executive after a year as president, he made it clear he wanted all eight company divisions to grow faster than their respective markets, and he was willing to invest in them all. Boston Scientific developed a system: Set aside 10 percent of revenue for research and development, including to advance already acquired technologies, and devote much of its profits to new deals. “Pretty much every dollar that the company earns, we reinvest back into internal R&D and technology acquisition,” Butcher said. “That’s a differentiator.”
The key was how to pick those acquisition targets. Mahoney implores his team to find ways to reduce costs for hospital clients, and to work with physicians to help solve their problems. In the case of atrial fibrillation, or “AFib,” doctors traditionally applied extreme heat or cold in a process called ablation to treat irregular heartbeats. The resulting scar buildup would block faulty heart signals, restoring the heart’s regular cadence. But physicians wanted a less damaging approach, with fewer side effects. For that reason, they embraced the company’s Farapulse device, which uses electromagnetic waves instead.
Boston Scientific plucked Farapulse from its own venture capital portfolio. With its venture capital arm, the firm makes small bets on younger companies — it has about 40 investments today — by buying minority stakes in them. That allows executives to closely track the startups, learn about their technologies, and often gain a presence on their boards, without putting too much money at risk, said analyst Rick Wise of investment bank Stifel. (With Farapulse, Boston Scientific held a minority stake until 2021, when it bought the rest amid promising trial results.)
David Rescott, a senior research analyst at the Robert W. Baird & Co. investment bank, said the firm’s deal-makers in recent years trained their sights on higher-growth markets. Before 2012, nearly half of Boston Scientific’s business grew by less than 4 percent a year. Now, nearly half of the company grows at more than 7 percent, he said.
That meant moving beyond drug-coated stents and pacemakers, product lines responsible for roughly half the company’s revenue before Mahoney became chief executive. Those lines are still important and growing, Mahoney said in an interview, but Boston Scientific is identifying faster-growing businesses in areas such as endoscopy, urology, and interventional cardiology therapies. The acquisition strategy now focuses on landing smaller purchases that augment existing business lines, instead of another big fish like Guidant.
“In hindsight, now, others are copying that strategy,” Bank of America analyst Travis Steed said. “They made a lot of small bets on things, a lot of them didn’t necessarily pan out, but some did and they’ve become huge growth drivers.”
Analysts also point to a shift in culture and mindset driven by Mahoney.
Mahoney said that change came about by recruiting new leaders and thinning out the bureaucracy to speed up decision making and simplify managers’ compensation incentives.
“It’s been a brick by brick, constant improvement, strengthening the company,” Mahoney said.
Can Boston Scientific keep this going? Analysts who track the company remain hopeful. But they also say rivals are not going to easily cede acquisition targets or markets to their competitor from Massachusetts. Boston Scientific executives need to be cautious about not overpaying, now that they can do big deals again. Investors’ expectations are high.
Mahoney remains confident. Employees are driven, he said, by more than quarterly earnings numbers. Boston Scientific regularly hosts patients at company facilities around the world to talk about how their lives benefited from its devices.
“We bring these patients’ stories that are very powerful right to our employees, [and] they see what we do every day eventually helps a patient,” Mahoney said. “Most employees don’t care about Boston Scientific’s stock price. They want to be proud of where they work.”
