Earnings at iCad Inc. (NSDQ:ICAD) changed little during the final quarter of 2009, despite an 11 percent drop in revenues from year-ago levels.
A sharp decline in film-based revenues coupled with falling sales for iCad’s digital computer-aided detection business undercut gains in service and supply revenues during the period. Film-related revenues fell $1 million, or 45 percent, to $1.2 million during the quarter from the $2.2 million reported last year, while sales within its digital computer operations dropped about $700,000, or 11 percent, to $5.6 million.
Overall, the Nashua, N.H.-based medical imaging equipment manufacturer reported a $317,000 profit, or 1 cent per share, on $8.1 million in revenues during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009. That compares with net income of $321,000 on $9.3 million in revenues during the fourth quarter of 2008.
Company executives said capital purchases by hospitals remain weak but they were optimistic that prospects for a rebound were supported by a “highly competitive and broader” product mix. They also cited positive signs for a successful transition to digital imaging solutions from a film-based business, particularly for mammography and breast-cancer detection.
Its primary product is the TotalLook MammoAdvantage, a digital mammography device and reader designed to improve workflow. The drop in fourth-quarter revenues, in part, was attributed to the film-to-digital transition at healthcare facilities, offset by a $500,00 rise in service revenues as TotalLook clients shift to service contracts from warranties.
“iCad hosted a number of important meetings focused on CAD and other advanced image analysis solutions for the early detection of cancer” during 2009, CEO Ken Perry said in prepared remarks. Those events include the annual Radiological Society of North America convention and an iCad-sponsored symposium, highlighting “how quantitative image analysis and MRI play an integral role in prostate cancer programs,” he said.
Approximately 1.2 million prostate biopsies are currently performed in the U.S. each year, procedures Perry and iCad officials hope to eventually replace with magnetic resonance imaging as the primary diagnostic tool.
For all of 2009, iCad reported a $2 million loss, or four cents per share, reversing a $4.4 million, 10-cent profit in 2008. Revenues declined $9.4 million from year-ago levels to $28.1 million.
