Scalper1 News
Cardiac device maker Abiomed ( ABMD ) beat quarterly estimates and guided the current fiscal year above consensus Tuesday, but its elevated stock still slipped in trading. For its fiscal Q4 ended March 31, Abiomed’s sales totaled $94 million, up 39% from the year-earlier quarter and beating analysts’ consensus by about $3 million, according to Thomson Reuters. Earnings fell 14% to 24 cents a share but still beat consensus by 9 cents. The earnings decline in both Q3 and Q4 were due to tough year-over-year comparisons, but analysts expect growth to return in the current quarter and accelerate thereafter. Abiomed supported this with its guidance for the current fiscal year: $430 million to $445 million in sales vs. last year’s $329.5 million, beating consensus of $421 million. It does not provide EPS guidance but said operating margin should be 18% to 20%, which would be flat to slightly below last year’s. The margin guidance might have been a bit below expectations. Leerink analyst Danielle Antalffy had estimated it at 20%, and Thomson Reuters’ consensus for net income was also about 20% of revenue. Abiomed stock was down 2% in midday trading on the stock market today , near 97. The stock had been trading strong lately, with a consistent IBD Relative Strength Rating in the 90s. Shares are up more than 40% since touching a nine-month low in early February. Antalffy still was positive on Abiomed’s report, noting good adoption trends for the company’s Impella heart pump in the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) market. “We believe this adoption momentum is under-appreciated by the Street — particularly given what we view as a possibly open-ended market opportunity in protected PCI as previously untreated patients are now increasingly treated — paving the way for consistent “beat and raise” quarters over the near-to-medium term,” Antalffy wrote in her research note. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News