Avanos Medical (NYSE:AVNS) posted first-quarter results today that beat the overall consensus on Wall Street.
The Alpharetta, Ga.–based company reported losses of -$7.6 million, or -16¢ per share, on sales of $180.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 — versus a profit of nearly $4 million, or 8¢ per share compared with Q1 2020. Sales were up 0.17% for the maker of pain management and chronic care technology.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 23¢, 5¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $175.4 million.
“We executed well in the first quarter highlighted by building momentum across our franchises and controlling costs while remaining focused on the health and safety of our employees and meeting the needs of patients impacted by the virus,” CEO Joe Woody said in a news release. “Although at the start of the quarter we experienced a slowdown in our pain management franchise due to pandemic-related hospitalizations, as those began to decline, we saw an acceleration across our therapies.”
“The financial guidance we are committing to illustrates the confidence in our ability to deliver top-line growth, margin improvement and generate free cash flow in 2021 and beyond.”
Avanos Medical said it expects 2021 net sales to increase 2–4% on a constant currency basis and earn between $1.10 and $1.25 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.
Shares of AVNS were down –2.27% to $41.85 apiece by midday today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was up slightly.