Share prices for Mazor Robotics (NSDQ:MZOR) slid today despite preliminary 1st-quarter sales numbers that beat expectations on Wall Street.
The Caesarea, Israel-based robot-assisted surgery device maker said it expects to post sales of $11.5 million for the 3 months ended March 31, ahead of The Street’s $11.2 million forecast and up 79.7% compared with Q1 2016. Investors reacted by sending MZOR shares down -1.6% to $29.11 apiece today in late-morning trading. Analysts are looking for Q1 losses per share of -21¢ and full-year losses of -81¢ on sales of $51.9 million.
Six U.S. orders for its next-generation Mazor X platform came in during the quarter, the company said, with a single order for its Renaissance brain module upgrade from outside the U.S.
Backlog stood at 14 at the end of the quarter, with delivery expected this year, Mazor said. Full Q1 results are slated to be released in May, the company said.
“The launch of the Mazor X and the rollout of this advanced surgical platform is progressing as planned and to our satisfaction. The 1st quarter’s results bring the total number of Mazor X systems orders since we began its sale in the 2nd half of 2016 to 40 systems. Additionally, systems have been installed at numerous key sites across the U.S. and have been used clinically in dozens of patient procedures in 2017,” CEO Ori Hadomi said in prepared remarks. “Our commercial partnership is yielding increased penetration into the U.S. market which leads us to be increasingly optimistic about our growth opportunities in 2017.”
Last year Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Mazor inked a 2-phase deal calling for Medtronic to acquire 15 Mazor systems in 2016 and making Medtronic Mazor’s sole partner for developing and commercializing robot-assisted spine surgery devices. The 2nd phase, a 3-step equity investment in Mazor, was triggered in July 2016 by the Mazor X release.
Barclays analyst Matthew Taylor, writing this morning in a note to investors, raised his price target on Mazor from $28 per share to $31.
“Looking forward, we expect MZOR’s relationship with MDT to continue to lead to robust demand for the X system, and think the milestones in the MDT agreement will be met (perhaps in ’17), leading to the next phase of the agreement where MDT takes over exclusive global sales and distribution for the X system and future products,” Taylor wrote. “While competition is on the horizon, including [Zimmer Biomet‘s (NYSE:ZBH)] Rosa (which has an indication for spine in the US) and [Globus Medical‘s (NYSE:GMED)] Excelsius (launch 2017E), we view MZOR as the clear leader in the space and several years ahead in terms of technology and experience.”
