St. Jude Medical (STJ) 10-K 2009 FY Annual report

Exhibit 12

ST. JUDE MEDICAL, INC.
COMPUTATION OF RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES
(in thousands)

	FISCAL YEAR
	2008		2007		2006		2005		2004
EARNINGS
Earnings before income taxes	$	630,741	$	744,305	$	720,641	$	621,404	$	537,192
Plus fixed charges:
Interest expense (1)		22,581		38,229		33,883		10,028		4,810
Rent interest factor (2)		9,527		9,144		8,190		7,659		5,778
TOTAL FIXED CHARGES		32,108		47,373		42,073		17,687		10,588
EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAXES AND FIXED CHARGES	$	662,849	$	791,678	$	762,714	$	639,091	$	547,780
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES		20.6		16.7		18.1		36.1		51.7

(1)	Interest expense consists of interest on indebtedness and amortization of debt issuance costs.
(2)	Approximately one-third of rental expense is deemed representative of the interest factor.