Adds share move in paragraph 5, details throughout

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Medtronic MDT.N surpassed Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday, buoyed by strong demand for its heart devices and diabetes monitors.

Medtech firms are benefiting from surging demand for medical procedures as health insurers report higher medical loss ratios — an indication that patients are availing more procedures. Market optimism is also boosted by wider physician uptake and technological advances.

But Medtronic maintained its fiscal 2026 adjusted per share profit forecast at $5.62 to $5.66.

Sales in the company's neuroscience segment, which makes spinal implants and software, rose 4.1% to $2.56 billion, but missed estimates of $2.59 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares were down 4% in premarket trading.

Medtronic’s growth drivers include its pulsed field ablation systems and its transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices, two minimally invasive technologies for heart conditions that are seeing rapid adoption.

Sales in the company's cardiovascular segment, which accounts for nearly 40% of sales, jumped 13.8% to $3.46 billion during the quarter, powered by strong demand for its pulsed field ablation portfolio.

The technology uses high-energy electric pulses to destroy targeted heart tissues to reduce the frequency of abnormal heart rhythms.

Medtronic competes with Abbott ABT.N and Dexcom DXCM.O in continuous glucose monitoring, a market that has expanded as patients increasingly adopt convenient finger-prick-free technologies to track glucose levels.

Quarterly sales of the company's diabetes devices grew 14.8% to $796 million.

Revenue for the third quarter came in at $9.02 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $8.91 billion.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported quarterly profit of $1.36 per share, above estimates of $1.33 per share.

Healthcare conglomerate and larger peer Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N posted a 7.5% year-over-year increase in medtech sales in the reported quarter, driven by strength in its electrophysiology segment that includes its heart devices.