Hologic takes a very tangible, $2.3 billion Q2 hit

May 4, 2009 by MassDevice staff

Bedford women's health products maker takes a massive second-quarter write-down on intangible assets and goodwill for its Cytyc and Third Wave acquisitions.

Hologic Inc. posted a massive second-quarter loss after taking a $2.34 billion write-down of goodwill and intangible assets on its acquisitions of Cytyc and Third Wave Technologies.

THe Bedford-based women's health products maker's stock slipped more than 10 percent in after-hours trading today, to $14 per share, after posting a high of $15.72 during the day.

Second-quarter sales reached $402 million, down 6.7 percent compared with $431.1 million during the same period last year. Hologic posted a net loss of $2.3 billion for the period ended March 28, compared with net income of $56 million during the second quarter of 2008.

Excluding the write-down, quarterly net income was $74.1 million, compared with $76.2 million during the 2008 second quarter, a 2.7 percent decline.

Hologic cited the worldwide economic downturn for the sales and income slides, attributing much of the decrease to lower sales of its Selenia digital mammography systems as hospitals cut back on capital spending.

But the news wasn't all about declines, as Hologic reported an advance related to the Food & Drug Administration's PMA approval of two of its human papillomavirus tests, one of which has already hit the market. Hologic said it plans to begin selling the second test this month.

And although it lost an anti-trust countersuit against Qiagen Gaithersburg Inc., that same ruling upheld a previous decision absolving Hologic of infringing Qiagen's HPV test patents.

Hologic said it expects sales of up to $400 million during the third quarter and up to $1.65 billion for the full year.