St. Jude Medical Inc. said Thursday it is cutting 300 jobs as part of a corporate restructuring that the medical device company says will save it $50 million to $60 million annually starting next year, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports.

Reduced operating expenses over the summer months helped boost Xcel Energy Inc.'s third-quarter earnings, Dow Jones News reports. The Minneapolis-based utility earned $398 million, up nearly 18 percent from $338.3 million a year earlier.

Capella Education, the parent company of the for-profit Capella University, says its third-quarter net income was $5.1 million, down nearly 50 percent compared to the $9.9 million it earned in the July-September quarter last year, the Associated Press reports. Even as total enrollment, revenue and net income fell, new student enrollment at the Minneapolis-based provider of online post-secondary education rose 10.5 percent compared to last year -- the first increase in nearly two years, Reuters reports.

The medical-device maker reports second-quarter profits up significantly from a year ago, when the company was tangled up in legal troubles.

Lower expenses and a 10 percent sales growth helped boost Fastenal Co's third-quarter net income by 13 percent, RTTNews reports. The Winona-based company, an industrial and construction supplier, posted a profit of $109.3 million, or 37 cents a share, compared to $96.8 million, or 33 cents a share, a year ago.

Inver Grove Heights-based CHS Inc. -- the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States -- reported net income of $405 million thanks to strong energy performance. Revenue increased nearly 5 percent to hit $11 billion. The Wall Street Journal notes CHS reported its second-quarter profit dropped 60 percent.

Design changes to a key Little Canada-based St. Jude Medical Inc. heart device, including an added layer of insulation to reduce the risk of abrasions, do not prevent defects that could lead to device failure and death. That's according to prominent cardiologist Robert Hauser of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis who made the comments in a study published in the medical journal Europace. He tells the Pioneer Press, "I can't say the Durata lead is bad. I just can't say that it's good."