Inspire Medical Systems (NYSE:INSP) shares took a hit today despite fourth-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast.
Shares of INSP fell nearly 7% at $210.35 apiece in midday trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — stayed even.
The Minneapolis-based maker of neuromodulation implants for treating sleep apnea posted profits of $15.5 million or 49¢ per share. It recorded sales of $192.5 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2023. Inspire more than quadrupled its bottom line on sales growth of 39.6%.
Compared to Wall Street estimates, EPS beat the consensus forecast by 58¢. Sales narrowly topped projections of $192.41 million.
Some of Inspire’s growth can likely be attributed to the massive CPAP recall at Philips. While Philips, a leader in sleep apnea therapy, fell out of the market, people moved away from that method of treatment.
“We are thrilled with our strong performance in the fourth quarter,” said Tim Herbert, president and CEO at Inspire. “Our growth continues to be driven primarily by higher utilization at existing sites and was complemented by the addition of 78 new U.S. implanting centers and 13 new sales territories. During the quarter, we worked diligently with commercial payers to update coverage policies for our expanded indications, and we achieved several important milestones, including surpassing 60,000 patients treated with Inspire therapy and reporting our first quarter of operating income.
“We expect this strong operating leverage to continue and to reach profitability for the second half of 2024.”
Inspire maintained its full-year 2024 guidance for sales between $775 million and $785 million. That would represent growth of 24% to 26% over full-year 2023 revenue of $624.8 million.
