Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) stock has jumped in after-hours trading after the company reported Street-beating Q2 results and boosted it earnings outlook.
The Irvine, Calif.–based artificial heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring company reported a loss of –$122 million, or –20¢ per share, off $925 million in revenue during the quarter ended June 30. For the same quarter a year ago — before the COVID-19 pandemic — Edwards saw profits of $242 million, or 38¢ per share, off $1.087 billion in revenue.
Sales of TAVR — a hot area in medtech — took a 12% hit.
The results, though, beat predictions. Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 34¢, double the expectations of The Street, where analysts were looking for EPS of 17¢ on sales of $797.5 million.
Healthcare providers have been working to ensure the safety of people without COVID-19 who are coming in for care, but Edwards Lifesciences has still seen cases of people holding off on heart valve replacement because they are worried about catching the virus. “Irrespective of the unpredictable surges of this deadly pandemic, there is growing recognition that valve therapy should not be postponed as these patients have an urgent need,” CEO Michael A. Mussallem said today in the earnings news release.
Edwards Lifesciences is boosting its adjusted 2020 EPS guidance to $1.75–$1.95, from a previous $1.58–$1.75, while keeping it’s top-line outlook at $4.0–$4.5 billion.
Investors reacted by sending EW shares up 5.6% to $81.61 apiece in after-hours trading. The rise comes after a day that saw Edwards stocks and the overall markets — as well as the MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — decline as investors unloaded Apple and Microsoft stocks and the U.S. Labor Departement reported a rise in initial jobless benefit claims.
