Hill-Rom Holdings (NYSE:HRC) shares jumped after releasing 4th quarter earnings last week that beat the street on revenue and earnings per share, along with solid fiscal year 2015 numbers and fiscal 2016 guidance.
Hill-Rom reported losses of $10.1 million, or 16¢ per share, on sales of $573.9 million for the 3 months ended Sept 30. That amounts to a 141% slide into losses on sales growth of 19.6% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1 time items, earnings per share were 89¢; Analysts on Wall Street were looking for adjusted EPS of 82¢, which Hill-Rom handily topped. The company also topped the Street’s revenue expectations of $551 million by over $20 million.
For its fiscal year 2015 Hill-Rom reported profits of $46.8 million, or 82¢ per share, on sales of $1.99 billion for the year ended Sept 30.
That’s a loss of 22.8% on the bottom line as sales grew 17.9% compared with fiscal year 2014. Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $2.64, missing the Street’s expectations of $3.12.
Shares lifted a gentle 1.6% to close at $54.29 on Nov 5 after releasing its earnings data.
The company released its guidance for the next year, looking to bring in between $2.66 and $2.77 billion in revenue and between $3.08 and $3.14 in earnings per share for FY2016.
For its 1st quarter of 2016, Hill-Rom said it expects to report revenue between $645 and $655 million and 60¢ to 62¢ per share.
“We finished the year ahead of our expectations with strong 4th quarter results that included a 20% increase in adjusted earnings and constant currency revenue growth of 7%, excluding acquisitions. Our ongoing focus on margin expansion resulted in a significant increase in adjusted operating margin of 220 basis points for the quarter. For the full year, we delivered record adjusted earnings of $2.64 per diluted share, a 17% increase. We are very pleased with the progress we made in 2015 on a number of fronts. We strengthened our management team with several key appointments during the year and we significantly enhanced our portfolio with the additions of Trumpf Medical and Welch Allyn. Together with new product introductions and our continued focus on operational excellence, we have improved our customer value proposition and are driving strong growth in revenue and adjusted earnings for 2016 and beyond,” CEO John Greisch said in a press release.
In September, Hill-Rom said it closed its $2.05 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of Welch Allyn, sending the latter $1.63 billion in cash and some 8.1 million shares of new HRC stock. The deal leaves privately owned Welch Allyn’s shareholders owning a 13% stake in Hill-Rom.
Hill-Rom floated a $425 million debt round to help finance the buyoutof Skaneateles Falls, N.Y.-based Welch Allyn. U.S. anti-trust regulators OK’d the merger in July.
Hill-Rom, which put up sales of $1.69 billion last year, forecast a 10% addition to adjusted EPS in fiscal 2016 but no impact this year.