Natus Medical (NSDQ:BABY) reported a 1,000% increase in profits during the 1st quarter, handily beating Wall Street’s earnings-per-share forecast in the process.
Natus posted a 45% increase in sales and "record revenues" for the 3 months ended March 31, 2013, beating Wall Street expectations by 5¢.
The San Carlos, Calif.-based diagnostic and device maker posted 1st-quarter 2013 profits of $3.4 million, or 11¢ per diluted share, on sales of $85.8 million. That compares with Q1 2012 profits of $289,000, or 1¢ per diluted share, on sales of $59.4 million.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, EPS reached 15¢ apiece. Analysts on The Street were expecting EPS of 10¢ per share.
Natus boosted its full-year 2013 earnings guidance from 84¢-87¢ to 85¢-88¢ and maintained its prior sales forecast of $362 million to $367 million. Second-quarter adjusted EPS are pegged at 17¢-20¢ on sales of $86 million to $90 million
The news initially sent BABY shares down 2.6%, before investors sent the stock back up 3.3% to $14.56 apiece as of 10 a.m. today.
"I am very pleased with our first quarter results, which were driven by record revenues, margins and improved operating efficiencies," CEO Jim Hawkins said in prepared remarks. "While Europe continues to be soft, our domestic business was strong in both neurology and newborn care."
The company attributed the record revenues to strong domestic sales for its newborn care unit and neurology units, helped by rising birth rates and the company’s acquisition of CareFusion’s (NYSE:CFN) neurodiagnostics unit for $58 million.