Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) shares surged to yet another all-time high today after the heart pump maker reported fiscal 4th-quarter and 2015 results that shattered expectations on Wall Street.
Danvers, Mass.-based Abiomed’s profits rose 2,629.8% to $98.9 million, or $2.40 per share, on sales growth of 34.0% to $67.6 million for the 3 months ended March 31, compared with the same period last year. Analysts on The Street were looking for earnings of just 14¢ on sales of $62.6 million.
Full-year profits grew 1,144.6% to $113.7 million, or $2.80 per share, as 2014 sales rose 25.4% to $230.3 million compared with fiscal 2014. Analysts’ forecast called for EPS of a mere 49¢ on $225.3 million in sales.
Abiomed raised its fiscal 2016 sales outlook to $285 million to $295 million, up from prior guidance of $260 million to $270 million. The news pumped 15.1% into ABMD shares, which hit the all-time high of $76.90 apiece before closing at $75 even today.
Chairman, president & CEO Michael Minogue said winning pre-market approval from the FDA for its Impella 2.5 a few days before the end of the quarter means Abiomed has a lot of runway ahead, because the PMA opens up new opportunities to engage cardiologists.
"Now that we have the PMA approval, we can really engage with the heart failure community, the referring physicians and also direct to patients. And we believe that our existing sites are trained and ready and will provide the best quality and rigor in the procedural success rate," Minogue told analysts during a conference call today. "And this is a community that we haven’t been able to engage in in the past, because we did not have the regulatory approvals, and to ensure that they understand that you can have a high-risk PCI patient that is Class III or Class IV, and if they have ischemic disease and you do an extensive revascularization on this patient, you have real benefits in improvements in their quality of life and improving their heart failure status.
"We are not looking to go out and create all new sites with all new physicians. The product has been out under the 510(k) clearance since 2008. So really it’s about making sure our best users have all the tools they need to ensure their success, and then to bring on the next level of adopters that have used Impella but have not created a protected PCI practice, or who have not used it as extensively as some of their best users, and that’s really the focus right now at our existing sites," Minogue said.
Abiomed’s flagship Impella 2.5 is in use at 968 healthcare facilities and the company expects to add 20 to 25 more per quarter, he added.