Steris posts a mixed bag in Q1, strong sales and earnings offset by restructuring costs and per-share earnings that miss expectations by 1 cent.
Steris (NYSE:STE) took a hit during its fiscal 1st quarter from a $9.2 million tax charge over its restructuring in Europe, but posted a more than 9% top-line gain.
Mentor, Ohio-based Steris reported profits of $32.3 million, or 54¢ per share, on sales of $367.7 million for the 3 months ended June 30. That represents bottom-line growth of 6.5% on sales growth of 9.1% compared with Q1 2013.
Steris said its hospital and healthcare supplies business was responsible for most of the revenue growth. But the European restructuring charge, acquisition and other costs pushed adjusted earnings per share of down 15¢ to 44¢. Analysts on Wall Street were expecting adjusted EPS of 55¢.
"We continue to see stable market trends, good performance from the businesses we recently acquired, and strong Healthcare orders and backlog, which gives us confidence in our ability to deliver revenue and earnings in-line with our guidance for the year," said CEO Walt Rosebrough in prepared remarks.
Steris confirmed its full-year 2014 sales guidance at 8%-10%, or $1.62 billion to $1.65 billion, and adjusted EPS of $2.47-$2.60.
STE shares opened down 1.6% today at $43.08 apiece and were trading at $44.02 as of about 11:40 a.m. today, for a 0.6% gain. The stock is down some 3.3% since it closed at $45.54 August 6, the day before Steris released its Q1 earnings report.
