Align Technology (NSDQ:ALGN) beat its own forecast and shattered Wall Street’s earnings expectations with its 3rd-quarter results, sending shares up more than 15% this morning ahead of the market’s open.
San Jose, Calif.-based Align reported profits of $34.5 million, or 42¢ per share, on sales of $164.5 million for the 3 months ended Sept. 30. That compares with a $344,000 loss for Q3 2012 on top-line growth of 20.5%.
Analysts on The Street were looking for earnings per share of just 11¢. Investors reacted to the beat by sending ALGN shares up 15.4% to $53 apiece just before the market opened today.
"I’m pleased to report another very good quarter for Align with net revenues, gross margin, and EPS higher than our outlook. Further we achieved record levels of net revenues, Invisalign case volume, and North American iTero scanner volume, enabling us to reach the low end of our long-term model for operating margin, while generating strong operating cash flow," president & CEO Thomas Prescott said in prepared remarks. "The 3rd quarter includes a seasonally slower period in Europe and in North America for our GP dentists, along with the peak of the summer season for teenage orthodontic case starts. We’re pleased that patient traffic appears to have remained solid for our North American Orthodontist customers this summer, which resulted in strong sequential and year over year growth for Invisalign volume, especially in the important teenage segment."
Align said it expects to report 4th-quarter EPS of 41¢-43¢ on revenues of $169.1 million to $173.1 million.