GE Healthcare's Q2 sales stall, profits slide

Second-quarter sales stalled and profits slid 2.4% for GE Healthcare, the world's 4th-largest medical device company.

The world's 4th-largest medical device company posted flat sales and a profit slide as the economic crisis in southern Europe and the strong dollar took a toll on GE Healthcare [1] (NYSE:GE [2]).

GE Healthcare logged profits of $694 million on sales of $4.50 billion during the 3 months ended June 30, down 2.4% and up less than half a percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

CFO Keith Sherin told analysts on a conference call that lower prices and "execution challenges" in Latin America drove the profit slide.

"Excluding those, we would have had healthcare up about 2% in the quarter," Sherin said during the call [3].