Medtronic put $700 million into Cornerstone Robotics, a surgical robotics company, on the same morning it reported a fiscal first quarter that beat on both revenue and earnings.
Most medical device makers have spent this year explaining tariffs, inflation, supply chains and a run of cyberattacks on the industry. Geoff Martha said all of that is already inside Medtronic's guidance, and that the products are outgrowing it.
"And we invented the pacemaker in the mid 50s. And we're still innovating on this."
Martha runs Medtronic, announced two acquisitions the morning of this interview, and has spent two years buying earlier-stage companies rather than large ones.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Geoff Martha, chief executive of Medtronic, which announced a $700 million investment in the surgical robotics company Cornerstone Robotics the morning of this interview
🎙️ Host: Carl Quintanilla, a co-anchor of Squawk on the Street on CNBC
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on CNBC (Squawk on the Street)
🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 4 min
Key Takeaways
The record quarter was the one before this one, and this one beat it Growth came from pacemakers and spine as well as from ablation, robotics and hypertension
Tariffs, inflation, supply chains and cyberattacks are already inside the guidance
Medtronic's claim is that it is enlarging the market, not only taking share from rivals A safer, faster ablation therapy lowers the bar for physicians to prescribe it at all
The answer to the attacks on the sector is partly to train the staff, not only the systems
Two years of deliberately small deals have almost doubled what the company spends on innovation The deals are moderately sized, early stage and in fast-growing areas
1. A record quarter, beaten
Carl Quintanilla opened on Medtronic shares taking a slight bump but sitting well off their earlier highs, after a beat on both the top and bottom lines in the fiscal first quarter, and asked whether a stock up by about a third in a few months was really a robotics story.
Martha said it is not, and that the quarter beat the record one before it. "I mean, we had a record quarter last quarter. This quarter is even better."
The growth was spread across the portfolio rather than concentrated in the new products: "Some of our oldest businesses like cardiac rhythm management. That's pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, our spine business, although that got a lot of help from robotics." The newer drivers he named were atrial fibrillation ablation, robotics and hypertension, sitting on top of the base business
He called it "a really, really strong quarter"
2. Growing the market itself
Quintanilla asked whether concerns about cyberattacks, tariffs, overall inflation and supply chains were being left behind.
Martha said those are headwinds already built into the plan and the forecast. "Well, look, those are headwinds we've had to build into our operating model. And it's all that is included in our guidance. But look, the innovation is outpacing that."
The claim underneath the quarter is that Medtronic is making the market bigger rather than only taking share from rivals. "And we are taking market share and executing well, but we're actually growing the markets, things like our new therapy for afib ablation." Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm, and ablation is the procedure that treats it
The mechanism he gave is that an easier procedure gets prescribed more often: "It's just safer for patients. It's faster and it's easier for physicians." Lowering the threshold for physicians, he said, pulls more patients into that part of the market for Medtronic and for the industry
He made the same argument about pacemakers, a product line he said Medtronic invented in the mid-1950s and is still changing
3. Answering the cyberattacks
Quintanilla put the run of attacks across the sector to him — Boston Scientific, Stryker and Medtronic itself, which he dated to roughly two months earlier — and asked how customers are reassured that the devices and the data are safe
Martha said the company is constantly investing in the newest technology to protect its data, its operations and its products
The second line of defense is the staff rather than the systems. "But on top of that we're training employees so that they're aware of some of what the threat actors' tactics are, to try to trick them and get access to our technologies."
The third is sharing information outside the company. He said Medtronic spends a lot of time with the US government, with other governments, and with companies inside and outside health care, working with their cybersecurity experts
4. Tuck-ins doubled the spend
Quintanilla noted the stock has outperformed Boston Scientific, Stryker and just about all the big names going into the back half of the year, as prices on other assets have come down, and asked whether that had whetted Medtronic's appetite for acquisitions.
Martha said it had, and described a two-year program of deliberately moderate deals. "And for us it's been what we call tuck-in M&A. These are moderately sized deals, earlier stage companies, but in high growth areas."
Two more of them were announced the morning of the interview
Set against the money Medtronic already spends internally, he put the effect on the innovation budget close to a doubling. "And really what that's done is it's almost it's doubled our investment in innovation." The organic investment has been creeping up over the years, he said, and the acquisitions sit on top of it
Bonus Insights
Quintanilla said the shares were getting a slight bump on the day but were well off their earlier highs, and that the stock is up by about a third in a few months
The programme identified the $700 million target as Cornerstone Robotics; Martha referred to two investments announced that morning and did not name the second
Martha said the spine business, one of Medtronic's oldest, got a lot of help from robotics in the quarter
Martha's bottom line is that the quarter came from the whole portfolio rather than from robotics alone, and that two years of small acquisitions have brought the company's spending on new products close to double what it was.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Medtronic (The subject of the interview: a beat on revenue and earnings, with growth Martha attributed to cardiac rhythm management, spine, ablation, robotics and hypertension)
Cornerstone Robotics (The surgical robotics company the programme said Medtronic is putting $700 million into, announced the morning of the interview)
Boston Scientific and Stryker (Named by the host both as recent targets of cybersecurity attacks and as the rivals Medtronic's stock has outperformed)
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