Bedford, Mass.-based diabetes devices maker Insulet (NSDQ:PODD) made some waves on Wall Street with its Q1 earnings report, in which the company posted a 20% boost in sales and narrowed losses by nearly 1/3.
The impressive spike in revenues was driven by U.S. and international sales of the company’s smaller OmniPod, company officials said this week.
Insulet reported $10.7 million in losses, or 20¢ per share, on sales of $57.4 million during the 3 months ended March 31, 2013. That’s a 20.1% increase in sales and a 27.8% decrease in losses compared to the same period last year, when Insulet posted $14.8 million in losses, or 31¢ per share, on sales of $47.8 million.
The per-share losses beat analyst’s consensus estimate by a penny, and Wall Street sent PODD shares up 15% to $28.59 as of about 4:00 p.m. yesterday.
Since March 1 alone the company’s referrals and shipments have increased 40% compared to the same time last year, president & CEO Duane DeSisto said during a conference call with investors. That’s partly attributable to the company’s newer generation OmniPods, which are lighter and more 34% smaller than older models.
Demand for the newer devices has been so high, DeSisto added. that Insulet has delayed moving existing customers to the new technology in order to stock up.
"With this significant uptick in demand we did make the decision to delay the transition of existing customers for approximately 90 days in order to build additional OmniPod supply," DeSisto said. "At this point, we expect that conversion will start in the next few weeks and we remain confident that nearly all customers will be transitioned by the end of the third quarter."
Insulet reiterated its 2013 expectations in the range of $240-$255 million in revenue, according to a press release.
Insulet’s story is a more unique one in the diabetes space, where companies have had a hard time overcoming challenges in reimbursement and utilization.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) reported a 10% operational decline in diabetes care revenue this quarter, Roche logged a 5% slide, and Bayer noted a slight decline in its diabetes diagnostics sales. The companies said basically the same things about the state of the market: Reimbursement cuts in Europe are pushing down prices and/or utilization, while increased price competition in the U.S. is likewise harming sales.