J&J CEO's 3 Reasons For Medtech to Be Optimistic in 2015

Alex Gorsky sounded a positive note in J&J's 2014 year-end earnings call today. Is it blind optimism or a sign of good things ahead for medtech?

Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky knows how to start the year off on a positive note. Although the company's worldwide medical device sales dipped 4.7% in 2014, he seems to already be looking to the future with rose-colored glasses.

According to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the company's fourth-quarter 2014 earnings call today, Gorsky—who also sounded an optimistic note at the start of last year—called out three encouraging trends that could spell success for the medical device industry and other healthcare-related businesses in 2015:

"Healthcare reform efforts and improving economies are clearly helping more people access affordable quality care... And here in the U.S, we’ve seen healthcare utilization rates increase for the second quarter in a row, both sequentially and versus the prior year. And we estimate that we will continue seeing similar to slightly higher growth rates when all of the fourth quarter numbers are reported."

“M&A activity is back to peak levels last observed before 2009” for the medtech, pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

“… Governments are increasingly recognizing the need to continue to address healthcare needs and are taking steps to reward innovation through FDA and EMEA designations that are helping to speed product review times.”