Medical device manufacturer Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) beat profit expectations in its fiscal third quarter, but reported disappointing revenue, and shares were falling about 4% Tuesday afternoon. GAAP earnings per share grew 51% to $1.42, and a 12% increase in non-GAAP EPS to $1.44 beat the analysts' consensus of $1.38. Revenue increased 2.3% to $7.7 billion, below analysts' $7.8 billion consensus estimate. Management said on the conference call that the company's top-line performance was below internal expectations, and although it blamed "transient" issues for the miss, it's making some changes to improve predictability. Medtronic said that customers postponed purchases ahead of new product announcements, and that an upgrade of its enterprise resource planning software resulted in a temporary inability to meet demand for surgical products from its Minimally Invasive Therapies Group. Image source: Medtronic. The good news was that profitability improved due to efficiency gains. Operating margin expanded 0.7 percentage points (excluding currency effects) and cash flow from operations increased 17% to $2.4 billion for the Dividend Aristocrat. Medtronic said it expects fourth-quarter EPS to land between $1.62 and $1.64, slightly below analysts' consensus forecast of $1.64. It also said that its guidance doesn't factor in any impact from COVID-19, but noted that the coronavirus outbreak has led to a decline in the number of medical device procedures being conducted in Chinese hospitals, which will have a negative effect of unknown magnitude on its Q4 results. 10 stocks we like better than MedtronicWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Medtronic wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2019 Jim Crumly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source