Kensey Nash Corp. lower on Q4 loss
Shares of Kensey Nash Corp. (Nasdaq: KNSY) are lower following news before the opening bell that the maker of medical devices posted a fourth-quarter net loss.
For the three months ended June 30, the Exton, Pa.-based company had a net loss of $0.15 per share, compared with a net income of $0.21 per share during the same period of 2006. Five analysts surveyed were expecting a profit of $0.05 per share.
“Excluding all the one-time charges, operating EPS came in at $0.14 per share, just one penny below our estimates,” said David Turkaly, medical supplies and devices analyst with investment bank Susquehanna International Group, LLP.
Revenues also missed expectations, falling 8% to $17 million from $18.4 million a year earlier, while Wall Street was projecting sales of $18.7 million.
Kensey Nash said the decline was expected and attributed it to the ordering patterns of major customers and a particularly strong fourth quarter in 2006.
However, sales of endovascular products jumped 169% to $1.2 million from $0.43 million a year ago.
“We made significant progress in the restructuring of our sales force, including a realignment of field personnel with territories, and believe that this reconfigured team will deliver solid growth of endovascular product sales in fiscal year 2008,” said President and CEO Joe Kaufmann.
“Kensey’s endovascular product line is the smallest of its three divisions, comprising about 10% of the company’s sales, but it has the best chance to grow in the future,” said Turkaly. “But so far, the new products have not taken off as anticipated.”
Kensey is an established player in the biomaterials market, focusing on products for soft tissue repair, spine and trauma, orthobiologics and drug/device combinations.
Looking ahead, the company forecast fiscal 2008 first quarter total revenues between $17.0 and $17.7 million and a profit between $0.09 per share and $0.11 per share. Analysts were looking for revenues of $18.7 million and earnings of $0.16 per share.
For all of fiscal 2007, Kensey Nash had a net income of $0.30 per share on revenues of $69.5 million, compared with a profit of $0.29 per share on revenues of $60.4 million in 2006. Wall Street was awaiting a profit of $0.47 per share on revenues of $70.99 million.
At 1:11 p.m. ET the stock had retreated $1.81, or 7%, to $24.92.
