Defibrillators

Jude's competitors.

But Daniel Starks, the chief executive officer at St.

Jude, said during a conference call with investors this morning: "We see some encouraging signs of returns to normalcy." The company's overall sales for ICDs came in at $302 million during the quarter, up 15 percent from $263 million in defibrillator sales during the same quarter last year.

The U.S.

market has been most damaged by the recall controversy, but St.

Jude's ICD domestic sales of St.

Jude competes in the market for ICDs and Advertisementpacemakers with Fridley-based Medtronic Inc.

and Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific, which makes its cardiac rhythm devices in Arden Hills.

All three companies have pointed to hopeful signs of recovery in the market for heart-rhythm devices during the past six months, but some of those hopes were dashed in February when Medtronic reported a slight decline in ICD sales for its quarter ending in late January.

For St.

Jude, signs of recovery that the company saw in results from the fourth quarter of 2006 just got stronger during the first quarter of 2007, Starks said.

Shares of...

Paul, Minnesota medical device maker, the second largest manufacturer of ICDs after Medtronic Inc.

(MDT.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said first-quarter profit rose to $145.7 million, or 41 cents per share, from $137.1 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

The analysts' average earnings forecast was 40 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Reuters Pictures Editors Choice: Best picturesfrom the last 24 hours.View Slideshow Net sales rose 13 percent to $887 million in the quarter from $784 million a year earlier, helped by favorable foreign currency translations.

Sales of ICDs, implantable devices that monitor and correct dangerously rapid heartbeats, rose 15 percent to $302 million.

Sales of the devices have slowed industrywide in recent quarters following high-profile product recalls and deaths linked to them.

St.

Jude and Medtronic also compete with Boston Scientific (BSX.N: Quote, Profile , Research) in the market for products that manage errant heartbeats.

St.

Jude also raised its forecast for the second quarter and full year, calling for earnings per share between 42 cents and 44 cents, and $1.72 to $1.77, respectively.

Shares of St.

Jude closed on Wednesday at $41.13 on the New York Stock Exchange.

© Reuters 2007.

All Rights Reserved.

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1st-qtr earnings rise Industry View How does St.

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trailing) Lower...