RPT-UPDATE 4-St. Jude net up 27 percent; 2008 forecast raised

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By Debra Sherman

CHICAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a 27 percent rise in quarterly earnings Wednesday on higher sales of implantable devices used to regulate errant heartbeats, prompting the company to raise its profit forecast for the full year.

First-quarter net income rose to $184.8 million, or 53 cents a share, from $145.7 million, or 41 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts' average profit forecast was 51 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales rose 14 percent to $1.01 billion, including a $45 million benefit from foreign currency translation.

The sales of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which correct dangerously rapid heart rhythms, rose 20 percent to $361 million. U.S. sales totaled $236 million. U.S. ICD sales have suffered over the past few years following product recalls.

Sales of pacemakers, which regulate hearts that beat too slowly, increased 10 percent to $271 million.

Because of strong sales of ICDs, St. Jude raised its 2008 profit forecast to a range of $2.15 to $2.20 a share from a previous forecast of $2.08 to $2.13.

In a telephone interview, Chief Financial Officer John Heinmiller said the U.S. ICD market "has stabilized and is right on track with what our expectations were."