Hill-Rom Holdings (NYSE:HRC) added 6% to its share price this week after reporting 4th-quarter and fiscal 2012 profits ahead of analysts’ expectations.
Batesville, Ind.-based Hill-Rom posted Q4 profits of $39.2 million, or 63¢ per share, on sales of $330.1 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30. That represents a sales increase of 4.4%, but a bottom-line decrease of 38.3%.
Excluding 1-time items, however, earnings per share were 56¢, ahead of Wall Street’s forecast for adjusted EPS of 54¢.
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HRC shares closed yesterday at $29.33 apiece, up 6.2% for the day. Shares were down about 2.1% this morning, trading at $28.72 as of about 11:30 a.m.
For the full fiscal year, Hill-Rom reported profits of 120.8 million, or $1.94 per share, on sales of $1.20 billion, representing sales growth of 7.1% but a profit slide of 9.4%. Analysts on The Street were expecting adjusted EPS of $2.23, a penny under HRC’s adjusted EPS of $2.24.
"Despite a year that was more challenging than expected, we made two strategically significant acquisitions – Volker and Aspen Surgical – while returning approximately 30% of our operating cash flow to shareholders," president & CEO John Greisch said in prepared remarks. "While our fiscal 2013 outlook assumes continued weakness in the macro environment, we plan to maintain our disciplined capital allocation strategy in order to increase shareholder value."
Hill-Rom said it expects sales growth of 7%-8% during fiscal 2013, with adjusted EPS of $1.95 to $2.05. Excluding the 17¢-per-share impact of the medical device tax, adjusted EPS are forecast to be between $2.12 and $2.22.
First-quarter sales growth is expected to be between 9% and 10%, with adjusted EPS of 43¢-45¢.