Hologic’s Q3 earnings exceed expectations despite sales slowdown and chip shortage

Hologic (Nasdaq:HOLX) posted third-quarter results today that beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street and increased its outlook for the rest of the year.

Marlborough, Massachusetts–based Hologic reported profits of $228.4 million, or $0.90 per share, on sales of $1 billion for the three months ended June 25, 2022. Compared with Q3 2021, profits decreased 14.8% while sales declined 14.2%.

Hologic said the revenue decline was primarily due to lower international sales of COVID-19 assays and persistent semiconductor shortages affecting the company’s Breast Health business.

Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $0.95, $0.24 above the expectation of Wall Street analysts, who were looking for EPS of $0.71 on sales of $907.22 million.

“With strength in our base business, a natural hedge to COVID outbreaks, plus a fortified balance sheet and robust cash flow, we have high confidence in our business,” Hologic CEO Steve MacMillan said in a news release.

Hologic said it expects to log adjusted EPS of $5.79 to $5.84 this year, up from prior guidance of $5.45 to $5.65. The company also increased its top-line outlook to a range of $4.75 billion to $4.78 billion, compared with $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion previously.

“Our fiscal third quarter 2022 was financially very strong, with performance exceeding revenue and EPS expectations,” Hologic CFO Karleen Oberton said in the release. “In our fiscal fourth quarter, we expect continued strength in our base Diagnostics and Surgical businesses to counterbalance supply chain headwinds in our Breast Health business.”

The news sent HOLX stock up less than 1% from the day’s close of $70.94 to $71.20 in after-hours trading.