Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Abbott Labs, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and Marriott International.

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CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Abbott Labs (ABT), Boston Scientific (BSX), Medtronic (MDT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Marriott International Inc. (MAR).

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Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Abbott Labs Sees Positive Results

Abbott Labs (ABT) presented results on XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System from the SPIRIT IV trial yesterday at the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in San Francisco.

Results showed that XIENCE V achieved superiority in the key safety and efficacy measures of target lesion failure (TLF) and target lesion revascularization (TLR) compared to Boston Scientific's (BSX) Taxus Express2 Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System at one year. The study was conducted with about 3,690 patients.

XIENCE V demonstrated a statistically significant 38% reduction in TLF compared to Taxus. Target lesion failure occurred in 4.2% of the XIENCE V patients compared to 6.8% of the patients in the Taxus arm. XIENCE V also demonstrated a statistically significant 46% reduction in TLR compared to Taxus. Target lesion revascularization occurred in 2.5% of the XIENCE V patients compared to 4.6% of the patients in the Taxus arm.

Importantly, XIENCE V demonstrated an impressive low rate of stent thrombosis (blood clots) at one year. XIENCE V demonstrated an observed 80% reduction in stent thrombosis compared to Taxus (0.17% for XIENCE V vs. 0.85% for Taxus) at one year. Risk of blood clots has been a cause of major concern for interventional cardiologists.

While the above results reinforce the safety and effectiveness of XIENCE, we note that XIENCE failed to achieve statistical significance in a sub-group of diabetic patients. Diabetes patients are typically sicker and have more challenging artery diseases. Results showed that there was no difference in TLF between XIENCE V and Taxus at one year (6.4% for XIENCE V vs. 6.9% for Taxus). Statistically significant results in this sub-group would have helped XIENCE V gain additional share from Taxus.

Following the launch of XIENCE V, Abbott has become a major player in the drug-eluting stent (DES) market, where it competes primarily with Taxus, Medtronic's (MDT) Endeavor, and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Cypher (sirolimus-eluting system) drug-eluting stents. Abbott's Vascular Products segment should continue posting robust growth mainly due to the strong performance of XIENCE V. We have a Neutral rating on Abbott.

Marriott Incurs $760M in Charges

Marriott International Inc. (MAR) said it would incur $760 million in impairment charges during the third quarter for its timeshare segment. The division saw soft demand for its luxury residential products in 2008 that weakened further in the current year. The company now plans to increase cash flow by lowering prices and development at luxury fractional and residential resorts.

Besides reducing housing prices, Marriott intends to convert certain proposed projects for other uses and sell some undeveloped land. While the company will maintain promotional pricing and marketing incentives in Europe due to weak demand, it has stopped pursuing additional development in the continent.

Marriott will record impairment charges of $295 million associated with five luxury residential projects, $300 million for nine North American luxury fractional projects and $95 million for one North American timeshare project. The company will also incur charges of $55 million for four projects in its European timeshare and fractional business and $15 million associated with two Asia-Pacific timeshare resorts.

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