For more than a year, Medtronic has reported weaker sales of its two leading franchises — heart defibrillators and spinal implants, which account for about 40 percent of total sales. Tighter hospital budgets, reduced procedures and safety concerns have led doctors to implant fewer devices. Those trends continued in the most recent period, with combined sales of the devices falling 5 percent.

But overall revenue rose 3 percent in the second fiscal quarter, which ended Oct. 28, to $4.13 billion, helped by sales of heart valves, stents and other upgraded products, the company reported.

For the quarter, the company posted net income of $871 million, or 82 cents a share, up 54 percent from $566 million, or 52 cents a share, a year ago. Results in the year-ago period were weighed down by a legal settlement related to defective heart defibrillators.

Excluding one-time expenses, the company would have earned $898 million, or 84 cents a share, in the most recent period. Those results topped analysts’ expectations for earnings of 82 cents a share on revenue of $4.07 billion.

Analysts had speculated Medtronic might scale back its full-year revenue guidance, but the company said it still expected earnings of $3.43 to $3.50 a share for fiscal 2012.

Medtronic shares rose $1.48, or 4.45 percent, to close at $34.75 Tuesday.

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