Last year, Boston Scientific Corp. bought heart-device maker Guidant Corp. after a bidding war pushed the price up to $27 billion. The deal, fostered by CEO Jim Tobin, brought Boston Scientific massive debt and made the company liable for possible flaws in Guidant's defibrillators.

This year, the company agreed to pay $16.75 million to settle those lawsuits and it cut 2,300 jobs to reduce costs. Those developments haven't helped Boston Scientific's stock — it's fallen by almost 50 percent this year.