Earnings

Edwards CEO Says TAVR Growth Now Hinges On Market, Not Share: 'I'm Signaling Confidence'

Edwards raised its full-year TAVR growth outlook to 9% to 9.5% while saying rival-share gains have leveled off.

Matteo Parrino Jonathan Ponciano

Matteo Parrino, Jonathan Ponciano

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Edwards CEO Says TAVR Growth Now Hinges On Market, Not Share: 'I'm Signaling Confidence'

Edwards Lifesciences, which makes heart valves for structural heart disease, raised its full-year growth forecast for TAVR (valves delivered by catheter) to 9% to 9.5%, and CEO Bernard Zovighian said on the company's third-quarter earnings call Wednesday that growth from here depends on more patients being treated, not on taking share from rivals.

A plateau in share gains

TAVR sales in the quarter grew 8.8% from a year earlier, Zovighian said, and procedure growth showed encouraging signs in the final weeks of the quarter. The company gained share over several quarters, he said, "but we believe that we have reached a plateau here."

Dan Lippis, Edwards' global leader of TAVR, said Boston Scientific's May 2025 exit from Europe and other markets outside the U.S. has now fully annualized, meaning the year-over-year benefit has run its course. The last two quarters showed sequential share stability, he said, and he expects the underlying market growth to continue into the fourth quarter.

Total company sales were $1.72 billion, up 11.2%, and Edwards raised its full-year sales growth guidance to about 11.5%.

Pressed on 2027

A Wells Fargo analyst asked whether TAVR growth would slow next year. Zovighian said it was too early to talk about next year: "I'm not signaling that a slowdown or whatsoever. I'm signaling confidence." He described the shift as one of mix, "less about share, more about market."

He said the new Medicare coverage policy and the asymptomatic indication would likely help next year, but gradually, because centers take time to implement the policy. It is "not going to be a peak and then a valley," he said. CFO Doretta Mistras said more specifics on 2027 would come in a few weeks.

Asked by an analyst at Evercore ISI why Edwards should not keep gaining share with the broadest label, Zovighian pointed to U.S. penetration of about 15% among severe symptomatic patients. "We are not going to push for it," he said of share.

Answering a Jefferies analyst separately, he said that over the next 10 years Edwards can expect "a slight loss of share," as more competition arrives.

What Edwards is betting on

Management pointed to the PROGRESS trial in moderate aortic stenosis and the modernized Medicare coverage decision as catalysts to widen the patient pool. The company targets about 10% average annual sales growth over the long term.

Edwards' TAVR products made up 74% of 2025 net sales. Lippis said a moderate-disease indication would not be reached without work with the FDA, and Edwards does not usually comment on that, but he promised a broader update on timing at the investor conference.

Edwards holds its investor conference at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, December 4, where management said it will offer more clarity on 2027 and the timing of a moderate-disease indication.

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