Moody's upgrades Boston Scientific on cost-cutting

NEW YORK — Moody's Investors Service upgraded Boston Scientific Corp.'s unsecured debt to investment-grade level and listed the outlook as "Stable."

In raising the ratings to "Baa3" from "Ba1," Moody's cited Boston Scientific's effort to reduce debt and costs. Those moves should help the medical-devices company survive despite weak sales and competition in markets for stents and heart-rhythm-management products. It also said the company's risks from patent lawsuits was declining.

However, Moody's said that Boston Scientific will need to invest in new technologies to keep up with rivals that are closer to developing new cardiac devices.

Boston Scientific won regulatory approval for its brand of drug-eluting stents sooner than expected, and new products should help the company reverse loss of market share, Moody's said. Stents are mesh-wire tubes used to prop open arteries after they have been cleared of fatty plaque.

Boston Scientific said that Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's already had investment-grade ratings of "BBB-" on the Natick, Mass., company.

Shares of Boston Scientific were unchanged at $5.93 in afternoon trading.