Headquartered in Irvine, California, Edwards Lifesciences Corp EW produces technologies that treat late-stage cardiovascular disease. EW stock has shown impressive growth lately, and earnings estimates for the company have moved higher over the past few weeks, suggesting positive analyst sentiment. With a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Edwards Lifesciences could be a great addition to any financial portfolio. Let’s take a look at some facts about the medical company that investors would be wise to know. Innovative History The company’s history can be traced back to 1958, when Miles “Lowell” Edwards set out to build the first artificial heart. After presenting the idea to Dr. Albert Starr, then a young surgeon at the University of Oregon Medical School, the two created the first Starr-Edwards mitral valve, a type of artificial heart valve. This innovation lead to the formation of Edwards Laboratories, and after a few name changes and acquisitions, the company was spun-off in 2000 as Edwards Lifesciences, an independent, publicly-traded corporation. Today, Edwards Lifesciences boasts a global presence in roughly 100 countries and has approximately 8,500 employees. The company is dedicated to furthering Edwards’ original vision, and to date has helped over 2 million patients worldwide. An Extensive List of Devices and Therapies Since the development of its first artificial heart valve, Edwards Lifesciences has created an extensive list of heart-related devices and therapies. The company’s devices include annuloplasty rings for mitral valve and tricuspid valve repair; catheters for hemodynamic monitoring, clot management, occlusion, general surgery, and balloon atrioseptostomy; heart valves including transcatheter heart valves, transcatheter pulmonic heart valves, surgical aortic pericardial valves, and surgical mitral pericardial valves; a VAMP system, TRUCLIP holder, and TruWave disposable pressure transducers for pressure monitoring; and other accessories and instruments including minimal incision MVR/AVR, arterial cannulae, atraumatic occlusion, and vascushunt carotid silicone shunts. These complicated-sounding devices help Edwards Lifesciences provide therapies for many cardiovascular diseases. Patients suffering from severe aortic stenosis are able to find relief from a procedure known as a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which uses the company’s SAPIEN 3 transcatheter heart valve. Edwards Lifesciences has also created a therapy called Closed Blood Sampling (CBS), which are procedures used in hospitals to more effectively conserve blood, improve patient outcomes, and reduce costs when compared with conventional blood sampling procedures; this also helps with infection control. And in order to combat blood clots, the medical company created the Fogarty® arterial embolectomy catheter to help make the removal of fresh emboli and thrombi—types of blood clots—fast and simple. Strong Stock, Strong Industry As I said above, Edwards Lifesciences is a #2 (Buy) on the Zacks Rank, and its industry, Medical Instruments, falls in the top 37% of all 265 industries ranked on the Zacks Industry Rank. Its high ranking can be attributed recent positive estimate revision activity. In the last 60 days, there have been three upwards revisions for the current quarter—estimates currently sit at $0.66 per share—and seven upwards revisions for the current year, with an estimate of $2.66 for the period. Edwards Lifesciences has beaten earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, and has an average earnings surprise of 8.09%. Year-over-year growth estimates for EW’s current quarter and current year are 17.17% and 16.19%, respectively. Other notable growth metrics include current cash flow growth of 27.33% and historic EPS growth of 20.50%, both numbers well above the industry average. Its net margin is impressive as well at 19.85%, especially in comparison to its industry’s -31.24%. EW is projected to see sales growth of 12.40% for the current year. Final Thoughts Edwards Lifesciences' recent estimate activity and growth track is quite encouraging for investors, pushing its stock higher in the past few weeks. The company reports its next earnings at the end of April. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report EDWARDS LIFESCI (EW): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research