Piper Jaffray Comments On MR Chief Financial Officer Departure

On Friday, Mindray Medical MR announced that its chief financial officer, Ronnie Ede, will step down for personal reasons, Piper Jaffray reports. “The company has appointed its COO Jie Liu to also take on the CFO responsibilities. MR expects to maintain its guidance, and Ronnie will sign off on the 20-F by April 30 and remain on MR's board,” Piper Jaffray writes. “On the Saturday analyst call, questions were far less critical versus the same call hosted after MR's previous CFO Joyce's departure, which could give investors some indication of sentiment towards the news. However, we wouldn't be surprised to see MR shares trade down on Monday on the news. “As a reference, MR shares declined 9.9% on March 5, 2009, post Joyce's resignation, and up 18.4% and 55.5% during the 3 and 6 months after the event, respectively (Exhibit 1). We expect the share price to eventually recover once investors digest the news and gain comfort on company operations.” Mindray Medical closed Friday at $26.92.