Insulet cuts sales growth forecast on slower US insulin-pump sales; shares fall

By Kunal Das

Aug 5 (Reuters) – Insulet lowered its annual sales growth forecast on Wednesday, pointing to a softer second half of 2026 particularly for U.S. sales of its Omnipod insulin pumps, sending shares of the company down nearly 21%.

• CEO Ashley McEvoy in a call with analysts said Insulet saw weaker-than-expected retention and slightly lower usage among customers with type 2 diabetes, with most of the difficulties occurring during their first 90 days using Omnipod.

• “We should have understood some of these type 2 trends sooner and done a better job of adapting our commercial and customer service model to the needs of this really important customer base,” McEvoy said.

• The medical-device maker now expects 2026 revenue to grow 20% to 22%, compared with its previous forecast of 21% to 23%.

• CFO Flavia Pease added that the updated forecast assumes that the weaker retention and usage trends continue through the second half.

• Insulet cut its U.S. Omnipod sales growth forecast to between 17% and 19% from 20% to 22%, while raising its international forecast to between 30% and 32% from 26% to 28%.

• McEvoy said the problem was not related to competition, pricing or GLP-1 medicines, but to Insulet’s execution in supporting people with type 2 diabetes during their first 90 days using the device.

• “With decelerating trends in 2H, and assuming this wasn’t a record new patient quarter again, this will stoke investor fears that US growth could fall out near 10% or even lower in 2027,” said J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus.

• Quarterly Omnipod sales rose 24.6% to $795.9 million, with U.S. sales increasing 20.1% to $544.1 million.

• Insulet posted second-quarter adjusted profit of $1.66 per share, above analysts’ estimate of $1.45, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Kunal Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)