STORM OF REGULATORY, LEGAL CHALLENGES MAKES BOSTON SCIENTIFIC AN 'ABOVE AVERAGE' RISK

Saddled with mounting recalls, regulatory actions and lawsuits related mostly to its recent acquisition of Guidant, Boston Scientific is an increasingly risky proposition for investors, a market analyst said.

RBC Capital Markets is "still urging caution" on Boston Scientific stock, which it considers an "above average risk," RBC analyst Phil Nalbone said June 23. "We are lowering our 12-month price target by $3 to $24," he said.

The company "continues to represent a highly concentrated and volatile mix of risks and controversies [and] until several of those issues are sorted out, we do not see much basis for the stock to begin moving higher on a sustained basis."

RBC expects sales of Guidant implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), now manufactured by Boston Scientific's Cardiac Rhythm Management division, to decline 8 percent from the same quarter last year. ()a href="http://www.fdanews.com/ddl/33_27/" target=_blank>