California-based laser devices maker Cutera (NSDQ:CUTR) narrowed losses but missed analysts’ expectations in Q2, sending shares shares down 9 points in the days following the company’s 2nd-quarter earnings release.
The company reported Q2 diluted losses of 4¢ per share for the 3 months ended June 30, a penny below analysts’ 3¢-loss estimate. However, Cutera was able lift its bottom line, narrowing its losses 56% over the same quarter last year.
Shares took an almost 9% hit after the company released earnings, with prices sliding from a close of $10.05 on Monday to $9.16 by Tuesday night. Stocks continued to slide, opening at 9:14 today and dropping another 1.5% by early Wednesday afternoon.
In a conference call with analysts, company CEO Kevin Connors blamed a devalued Japanese Yen and a slimming-down of the company’s Canadian business for flat sales compared to Q2 of 2012.
"In the quarter, Japan represented just under 20% of our business volume, down from roughly 25%, largely due to unfavorable foreign exchange impact … We have some specific initiatives in place to improve on this revenue category," he said. "Turning to North America, we experienced a slight decline in our business in the quarter. The 2 primary areas of weakness were tied to our Canadian business and our podiatry business. We believe we can address improved performance in these 2 categories as we believe both continue to represent healthy opportunities," he continued.
Overall Cutera reported losses of $638,000, or 4¢ per share, on sales of $19.6 million during the 3 months ended June 30, 2013. That compared with losses of $1.5 million, or 10¢ per share, on sales of $19.6 million during the same period last year.
