Strong Q2 Prompts LeMaitre Vascular to Boost 2010 Guidance

July 29, 2010 by MassDevice staff

LeMaitre Vascular turns in $1.5 million, second-quarter profit as sales climb 12% from year-ago levels; Firm says 2010 revenues should hit $55.8 million, up nearly $5 million from 2009

After easily beating Wall Street estimates for the second quarter, LeMaitre Vascular Inc. (Nasdaq:LMAT) is boosting guidance for the rest of 2010.

The Burlington, Mass.-based maker of stents, grafts, carotid shunts, catheters and vascular surgical tools said that sales during the three months ended June 30 reached $14.2 million, a 12 percent bump over the same span in 2009 and topping consensus analyst opinion for the quarter by roughly $500,000. Net income was $1.5 million, a 63 percent increase from the $925,000 profit LeMaitre reported in the June 2009 quarter.

Based on the better-than-expected first half results and likely contributions from recent and upcoming product launches, LeMaitre officials raised their sales outlook for the rest of year to $55.8 million. If realized, that would mark a $4.9 million, or 9.6 percent, increase over 2009 sales and $1.5 million above previous Street estimates. It also ratcheted the third-quarter revenue forecast higher to $13.8 million.

Last month, LeMaitre introduced its AnastoClip system, designed to quickly seal blood vessels, primarily for dialysis access, and is preparing the AlboSure polyester vascular patch for a third-quarter launch in Europe. U.S. sales for AlboSure are pending regulatory applications submitted in June.

The company is also seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with Canadian and Japanese authorities, for a new line of non-occlusive modeling catheters.

As with other recent quarters, sales of vascular implants and devices accounted for the bulk of LeMaitre revenues during the quarter, climbing to $10.2 million from the $8.4 million reported for the segment last year. The company saw small declines from 2009 levels in its endovascular and general surgery divisions, comprising a combined 28 percent of second-quarter revenues.

Overall, LeMaitre received six regulatory approvals during the period. Research and development costs fell 7 percent to $1.3 million, largely due to reduced regulatory and clinical spending. It finished the quarter with about $26 million in cash and equivalents, prompting the firm to increase its share repurchase program by another $3 million to a total $5 million through December 2011.