Boston Scientific: 20-doctor survey hints at what the problem could be for Watchman in `26

Research evidence excerpt

Boston Scientific: 20-doctor survey hints at what the problem could be for Watchman in `26

Deutsche Bank

Research

Rating Company Date

Buy Boston Scientific 11 June 2026

Company Update

North America

United States

Reuters Bloomberg Exchange Ticker Price at 10 Jun 2026 (USD) 48.34

BSX.N BSX US NYS BSX

Price Target 75.00

Health Care

52-week range 108.14 - 47.68

Medical Supplies & Devices

20-doctor survey hints at what the

Valuation & Risks problem could be for Watchman in `26

Pito Chickering

Portfolio Manager Summary Research Analyst

The debate around Watchman is raging post the latest update from BSX +1-917-635-9954

management at the Bernstein conference. We, as well as many investors, are left

Imron Zafar

trying to understand the sudden big stepdown in growth. Over the past week, we Research Analyst

surveyed 20 US LAAO-implanting doctors whose aggregate volume accounts for +1-212-250-3676

~2% of the overall market. Survey respondents were evenly split between

Kieran Ryan

electrophysiologists (EP) and interventional cardiologists (IC); we note that ~65%

Research Associate

of LAAOs are now done by EPs. We wanted to see the world from both camps of

+1-212-250-6879

cardiologists doing the procedure.

Ben Shaver

On the bull side, when asked about the impact of CHAMPION-AF and CLOSURE-AF Research Associate

+1-212-250-9926

results on their LAAO volumes, amongst EPs, 70% noted no change, 20% increase

modestly and 10% decrease significantly. Within the IC cohort, 30% noted no

impact,10% decrease modestly, and 60% increase modestly. So, taking the results

at face value, we would expect growth from these levels.

On the bear side, wait times for LAAO are decreasing within both subgroups: from

5.5 weeks in 2024 to 5.2 weeks in 2025 to 4.4 weeks in 2026 across all respondents.