UPDATE 2-St. Jude 2010 profit growth goal threatened

* Device maker expects double-digit EPS growth

* Reform tax, higher costs threaten 15 pct target

* Shares fall 3 percent to close at $38.19 on NYSE

By Susan Kelly

CHICAGO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - St Jude Medical (STJ.N) expectsdouble-digit per-share earnings growth in 2010, but healthcare reform and a weak global economy threaten its 15 percent goal.

A medical devices tax in pending healthcare reform legislation, rising pressure on product prices and increased costs to comply with U.S. and global regulations threaten the company's growth rate, St Jude Chief Executive Daniel Starks told investors at a JP Morgan conference in San Francisco.

"We expect consequences from all of these kinds of dynamics," Starks said. As a result, the company is "revisiting" its target for a minimum 15 percent compound annual growth rate in earnings per share, he said.

St Jude's shares fell $1.19, or 3.02 percent, to close at $38.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Starks "officially backed away from the company's long held 15 percent or higher longer-term EPS growth target," Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise said in a note to clients.

St Jude also reported preliminary fourth-quarter sales and earnings that were in line with expectations. Based on those results, 2009 sales grew about 10 percent and EPS grew about 14 percent on a constant currency basis, the company said.

Going forward, the company wants to deliver sustained double-digit sales growth by taking market share from competitors, Starks said.

"We may not always achieve it, but we will be close. Our aspiration is to overachieve that," Starks said. Simply by maintaining market share, the company can grow sales in the upper single-digit range, he noted.

St Jude plans to release a more detailed 2010 earnings and sales outlook on Jan. 27.

The company expects to report fourth-quarter earnings in a range of 61 to 63 cents per share on net sales of about $1.2 billion, in line with the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The maker of implantable devices to manage irregular heart rhythms and neurological conditions said fourth-quarter sales were higher than third-quarter sales in all product categories.

Cardiac rhythm management sales of $698 million were at the high end of the company's goal while atrial fibrillation product sales of $171 million exceeded its forecast. (Reporting by Susan Kelly; Editing by Bernard Orr and Robert MacMillan)